--- title: Obama Praises Iran Deal, Makes Appeal to Congress and Israel description: If Congress doesn't accept the deal, Obama said “it is the U.S. that will be blamed for the failure of diplomacy.” canonical: https://time.com/3769663/barack-obama-iran-nuclear-weapons/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-02T19:13:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-15T04:44:36.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Praises Iran Deal, Makes Appeal to Congress and Israel og:description: He said the U.S. and Iran have reached a "historic understanding." og:url: https://time.com/3769663/barack-obama-iran-nuclear-weapons/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte85dbc79973bc434/6987867d8e06011f1b45b160/obama-iran-nuclear-deal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: President Barack Obama speaks about the breakthrough in the Iranian nuclear deal in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Thursday, April 2, 2015 . og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Praises Iran Deal, Makes Appeal to Congress and Israel twitter:description: He said the U.S. and Iran have reached a "historic understanding." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte85dbc79973bc434/6987867d8e06011f1b45b160/obama-iran-nuclear-deal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Praises Iran Deal, Makes Appeal to Congress and Israel > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=867c6c36-d589-4329-a831-5bac8b31e361&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Obama - Historic Iran Talks [Watch (HLS stream): President Obama - Historic Iran Talks](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xwdHMHlv.m3u8) (0:40)  _Published 2015-04-03. The U.S., Iran, the European Union, Russia and China announced that they had “reached solutions on key parameters” to a nuclear deal._ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 15, 2023 4:44 AM UTCPublished: Apr 2, 2015 7:13 PM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks about the breakthrough in the Iranian nuclear deal in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Thursday, April 2, 2015 . President Barack Obama speaks about the breakthrough in the Iranian nuclear deal in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Thursday, April 2, 2015 . Susan Walsh–AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 15, 2023 4:44 AM UTCPublished: Apr 2, 2015 7:13 PM UTC President Obama said world leaders had come to a “historic understanding” on a possible deal to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. In a White House addressed at Americans, Iran and critics of the negotiations at home and abroad, Obama touted the transparency requirements on Iran’s nuclear capability as laid out in the deal under which the country would face “more inspections than any other country in the world.” “This deal is not based on trust,” he said, speaking from a podium in the Rose Garden on Thursday. “It is based on unprecedented verification.” “If Iran cheats, we will know it,” he said. “If we see something suspicious, we will address it.” Obama, however, acknowledged that today’s announcement is only the first step. World leaders still have until June to formally accept the proposed deal. Under the proposed deal, Iran would also face some relief from both U.S. and European Union sanctions, something likely to gain pushback from Republicans in Congress as well as Iraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been one of the most fervent opponents of the U.S.’s involvement. The President indicated Thursday afternoon he plans to address both sometime on Thursday. Obama said he’s welcoming the pending debate over the deal, repeatedly calling it the best option in efforts to reach a diplomatic resolution and avoid another war in the Middle East. If Congress fails to accept the deal, he said Thursday, “it is the U.S. that will be blamed for the failure of diplomacy.” ## Transcript [00:01] Today the United States, together with our allies and [00:05] partners, has reached a historic understanding [00:09] with Iran. Which if fully implemented will prevent it [00:13] from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Our work is not yet done. [00:18] The deal has not been signed. Between now and the end [00:22] of June, the negotiators will continue to work through the [00:25] details of how this framework will be fully implemented. [00:28] And those details matter. I am convinced that if this [00:32] framework leads to a final, comprehensive deal, it will [00:36] make our country, our allies, and our world safer. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3769663/barack-obama-iran-nuclear-weapons/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3769663/barack-obama-iran-nuclear-weapons/"},"headline":"Obama Praises Iran Deal, Makes Appeal to Congress and Israel","datePublished":"2015-04-02T19:13:45.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-15T04:44:36.000Z","description":"If Congress doesn't accept the deal, Obama said “it is the U.S. that will be blamed for the failure of diplomacy.”","url":"https://time.com/3769663/barack-obama-iran-nuclear-weapons/","keywords":["White House","Iran","Foreign Policy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte85dbc79973bc434/6987867d8e06011f1b45b160/obama-iran-nuclear-deal.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/blte85dbc79973bc434/6987867d8e06011f1b45b160/obama-iran-nuclear-deal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Barack Obama speaks about the breakthrough in the Iranian nuclear deal in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Thursday, April 2, 2015 .","caption":"President Barack Obama speaks about the breakthrough in the Iranian nuclear deal in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Thursday, April 2, 2015 .","creditText":"Susan Walsh–AP","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/3769663/barack-obama-iran-nuclear-weapons/","name":"Obama Praises Iran Deal, Makes Appeal to Congress and Israel"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Obama - Historic Iran Talks","description":"The U.S., Iran, the European Union, Russia and China announced that they had “reached solutions on key parameters” to a nuclear deal.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/xwdHMHlv/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-04-03T05:41:45.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xwdHMHlv.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3769663/barack-obama-iran-nuclear-weapons/","duration":"PT40S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3769663/barack-obama-iran-nuclear-weapons/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```