--- title: Barack Obama: It's Time for Iran to Decide on Nuclear Weapons description: President Obama said Monday that Iran needs to decide whether it will agree to end its nuclear weapons research. canonical: https://time.com/3701408/obama-merkel-iran/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-09T18:55:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:22.305Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama: It's Time for Iran to Decide on Nuclear Weapons og:description: No need to extend deadline past June, he argued. og:url: https://time.com/3701408/obama-merkel-iran/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e28c7278cda89b4/69877e43428a9e1838cc7091/merkel-obama-iran.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4096 og:image:height: 2304 og:image:alt: US President Barack Obama and Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama: It's Time for Iran to Decide on Nuclear Weapons twitter:description: No need to extend deadline past June, he argued. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e28c7278cda89b4/69877e43428a9e1838cc7091/merkel-obama-iran.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama: It's Time for Iran to Decide on Nuclear Weapons > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. Readers can join any of them at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=0a460ef0-795b-4cc6-bed3-b968bd098d15&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### The seven newsletters | Newsletter | Covers | Frequency | | --- | --- | --- | | The Brief | The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors | Daily | | Inside TIME | A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | | Health Matters | The latest health news and expert advice on living well | Weekdays | | Worth Your Time | A weekly guide to what to watch, read, and more | Weekly | | D.C. Brief | Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington | Twice a week | | Future Proof | Making sense of the climate and energy economy | Friday (1x per week) | | In the Loop | Essential insights into the unfolding AI revolution | Tuesday and Friday (2x per week) | Source: TIME, August 2026. ### Key data points | Metric | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Engaged newsletter audience | 1.1 million+ readers | TIME, August 2026 | | Newsletters published | 7 | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost to readers | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | US print circulation | 1 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Global print circulation | 1.15 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Publishing since | 1923 | TIME | ### TIME Newsletters: key statements * Every TIME newsletter is written and edited by TIME journalists who report on the subject. None is generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923. Its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting, so readers can trust what they read. * All seven newsletters are free. Readers pick the ones they want at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=0a460ef0-795b-4cc6-bed3-b968bd098d15&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). * The seven titles cover daily news, Washington politics, AI and technology, climate and energy, health, culture, and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/subscribe?i=0a460ef0-795b-4cc6-bed3-b968bd098d15&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What newsletters does TIME publish? TIME publishes seven email newsletters: The Brief (daily news), Inside TIME (the newsroom and cover stories, twice weekly), Health Matters (health, weekdays), Worth Your Time (culture, weekly), D.C. Brief (Washington politics, twice weekly), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=0a460ef0-795b-4cc6-bed3-b968bd098d15&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Iran: Life Under the Sanctions [Watch (HLS stream): Iran: Life Under the Sanctions](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/AwYwy1dL.m3u8) (3:46)  _Published 2012-09-13. TIME writer Jay Newton-Small talks about the contradictions of everyday life in Iran under the sanctions_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 9, 2015 6:55 PM UTC  From Left: Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel and President Barack Obama hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington D.C. on Feb. 9, 2015. From Left: Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel and President Barack Obama hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington D.C. on Feb. 9, 2015. Michael Reynolds—EPA by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 9, 2015 6:55 PM UTC President Obama said Monday that Iran needs to decide whether it will agree to end its nuclear weapons research. In a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House, Obama said he does not see much chance for an extension of the upcoming deadline on negotiations with the U.S. and several other countries, arguing that the issue is now whether Iran has the political will to get a deal done. “We are at a point where they need to make a decision,” he said. Obama noted that the six countries negotiating with Iran—the U.S., Russia, China, Great Britain, France and Germany—have already offered to allow Iran to continue using nuclear power but not nuclear weapons. His view on the deadline echoed similarly strong language made by Secretary of State John Kerry in [an interview with NBC’s _Meet the Press_](http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/kerry-no-extension-iran-talks-without-agreement-framework-n302376) over the weekend. “If we’re not able to make the fundamental decisions that have to be made over the course of the next weeks, literally, I think it would be impossible to extend,” Kerry said. Obama also addressed concerns over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s impending speech before a joint session of Congress, during which he is set to urge more sanctions be placed on Iran. On Monday, Obama said the the relationship between the two countries remains strong, though he and the Prime Minister two have strong differences in opinion when it comes to Iran. “It does not make sense to sour negotiations a month or two before they’re about to be completed,” Obama said. “What’s the rush, unless your view is that it’s not possible to get a deal.” Obama and Merkel spoke ahead of a working lunch between the two leaders and following a morning meaning where issues of ISIS and Russian aggression took center stage. Obama said Monday that he has not yet come to a decision on sending lethal aid to Ukrainian fighters, though he asked his team to “look at all the option” if a diplomatic solution cannot be reached.. Merkel reiterated Monday that she is against aiding Ukraine with lethal weapons, but noted the relationship between the two countries would remain strong regardless. The two countries hope to remain united in their efforts to confront extremism, Russian aggression and other global challenges. “No matter what we decide, the alliance between US and Europe will continue to stand even though on some issues we don’t always agree,” Merkel said Monday. “It’s a partnership that has stood the test of time.” ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] [ CROSSTALK ] A lot of Iranians that I spoke to said, you know, why would we want regime change at this point? Look at Syria, look at Iraq. You know, there's sectarian violence, there's chaos, there's you know, right now, there's stability in Iran. So why would you want to trade that for, essentially, civil war, in their eyes. At first, when you get there you're really surprised that you don't, I mean, it doesn't look like a country that's at all and, you know, been insanctioned. [ MUSIC ] There's, you know, Adidas and Espirit and Crocs and even Gucci and Versace and you're sorta like, wow, like, what are, you know, all these stores doing here? [ MUSIC ] But then, as you go deeper and you realize a lot of this stuff that they're selling is counterfeit or it's smuggled in. And you start hearing stories. I mean, talking to Iranians about unemployment, and you know, right now, the official unemployment rate is something like 13 %. It's clearly more than that. You hear stories about women selling there jewlery in order to pay for food. You know people cutting back on meat, because meat, the price of meat has more than doubled, in some cases tripled. You start to see it fraying along the edges and you know you start to realize that this sanctions are really starting to have an impact. One of those sort of side effects been at the Iranian Republican Guard. Has actually been strengthened by this because they're, they control the black market. And as the private sector has shrunk and they no longer can provide a lot of the services and, and, and the, supplies and materials needed, you know, int, in, int, in terms of keeping the economy alive. The, the Republican Guard has sort of filled that hole with smuggling. [ MUSIC ] If you're a neocon and you think that somehow the suffering of the people. The people are going to rise and their going to you know, take down the regime. I, I just don't see that happening, you know. I think most of the people who I spoke to in Iran were very cognizant that their economy was gonna collapse, and they said, you know, most people said, give it a year, give it two years. [ MUSIC ] In 2009 the Green Movement was crushed so brutally, and all of their leaders are still in prison. If they've, if, if they haven't fled the country. And, and it's just the whole opposition, the backbone of the opposition, has been broken. There's nothing to channel that discontent into. And so, there's this kind of apathy, you know this acceptance of, yeah I'm gonna be out of job, yeah I won't be able to feed my kids, yeah I might be kicked out of my house but, what can I do? [ MUSIC ] So there isn't really a sense that people are going to rise up in Iran. I think it's more just like they think something will give, hopefully the, either the regime will say, okay we're not, we're gonna stop the nuclear program and then the sanctions will stop or they think maybe they'll get the bomb, and then the sanctions will stop. It's really I mean, and more so than anything you hear people just wanting to leave. You know, and more, last year there were 200, 000 young Iranians who left. There's a sense from the regime that this is the opposition leaving so they're fine with it. But, at the same time it's your best and brightest and your whole future is leaving. Then, you know, it's really hard, you know, like to build a country off of that. There's only so long that this regime, a sort of tiny council of mullahs, can control, you know, the entire government and increasingly the entire economy. But, who knows how long that'll last. Six months, two years, five years. I mean it's anyone's guess. [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3701408/obama-merkel-iran/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3701408/obama-merkel-iran/"},"headline":"Obama: It's Time for Iran to Decide on Nuclear Weapons","datePublished":"2015-02-09T18:55:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:22.305Z","description":"\"We are at a point where they need to make a decision\" Obama said Monday","url":"https://time.com/3701408/obama-merkel-iran/","keywords":["White House","Iran","Foreign Policy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e28c7278cda89b4/69877e43428a9e1838cc7091/merkel-obama-iran.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e28c7278cda89b4/69877e43428a9e1838cc7091/merkel-obama-iran.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US President Barack Obama and Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel","caption":"US President Barack Obama and Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel","creditText":"Michael Reynolds—EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3701408/obama-merkel-iran/","name":"Obama: It's Time for Iran to Decide on Nuclear Weapons"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Iran Nuclear Talks End WIthout a Deal","description":"Secretary of State John Kerry is pointing the finger at Iran for the failure to close a nuclear deal during talks in Geneva on Saturday.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/m1MWCL28/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-11-12T14:20:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/m1MWCL28.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3701408/obama-merkel-iran/","duration":"PT1M32S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3701408/obama-merkel-iran/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Iran: Life Under the Sanctions","description":"TIME writer Jay Newton-Small talks about the contradictions of everyday life in Iran under the sanctions","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/AwYwy1dL/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2012-09-13T11:15:39.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/AwYwy1dL.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3701408/obama-merkel-iran/","duration":"PT3M46S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3701408/obama-merkel-iran/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```