--- title: Obama: Staking Iran Deal on Israel Recognition Would Be 'Misjudgment' description: In response to a question about statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canonical: https://time.com/3773184/obama-israel-iran-nuclear-deal-netanyahu/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-06T22:06:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T05:44:32.831Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama: Staking Iran Deal on Israel Recognition Would Be 'Misjudgment' og:description: In response to a question about statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu og:url: https://time.com/3773184/obama-israel-iran-nuclear-deal-netanyahu/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7633819496f30f32/698786ef2dce0117aa9de65f/barack-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2100 og:image:height: 1181 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-IRAN-NUCLEAR-OBAMA og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama: Staking Iran Deal on Israel Recognition Would Be 'Misjudgment' twitter:description: In response to a question about statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7633819496f30f32/698786ef2dce0117aa9de65f/barack-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Rejects Recognition of Israel as Condition of Iran Deal > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Apr 6, 2015 10:06 PM UTC  US President Barack Obama makes a statement at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 2, 2015 after a deal was reached on Iran's nuclear program. US President Barack Obama makes a statement at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 2, 2015 after a deal was reached on Iran's nuclear program. Nicholas Kamm—AFP/Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Apr 6, 2015 10:06 PM UTC **Correction appended** President Barack Obama said Monday that making Iranian recognition of Israel a precondition of a final nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic would be a”fundamental misjudgment.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been fiercely critical of the framework agreement negotiated between Iran and six world powers, has proposed that any final deal must include a “clear and unambiguous Iranian commitment of Israel’s right to exist.” But Obama told [NPR](http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/04/06/397892256/obama-conditioning-iran-nuclear-deal-on-recognition-of-israel-is-misjudgment) in an interview that such a demand would be unrealistic. “The notion that we would condition Iran not getting nuclear weapons in a verifiable deal on Iran recognizing Israel is really akin to saying that we won’t sign a deal unless the nature of the Iranian regime completely transforms,” Obama said in the [interview.](http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/04/06/397892256/obama-conditioning-iran-nuclear-deal-on-recognition-of-israel-is-misjudgment) He added, “I want to return to this point: We want Iran not to have nuclear weapons precisely because we can’t bank on the nature of the regime changing. That’s exactly why we don’t want to have nuclear weapons.” The White House has been playing offense on the outline of the deal intended to limit Iran’s ability to create a nuclear weapon, with [Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz](http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/04/06/today-in-politics-a-nuclear-scientist-from-m-i-t-takes-the-bully-pulpit-on-iran/) making weekend news show appearances and stopping by the White House Press Briefing to defend its merits while Secretary of State John Kerry takes a vacation. \[[_NPR_](http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/04/06/397892256/obama-conditioning-iran-nuclear-deal-on-recognition-of-israel-is-misjudgment)\] **_Correction:_** _The original version of this story misstated Benjamin Netanyahu’s title. He is Israel’s Prime Minister._ _Read next:_ [_Netanyahu Presses U.S. to Secure a ‘Better Deal’ With Iran_](http://time.com/3771676/israel-benjamin-netanyahu-iran-framework/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3773184/obama-israel-iran-nuclear-deal-netanyahu/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3773184/obama-israel-iran-nuclear-deal-netanyahu/"},"headline":"Obama Rejects Recognition of Israel as Condition of Iran Deal","datePublished":"2015-04-06T22:06:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:44:32.831Z","description":"Says making it a condition of the final deal would be a \"fundamental misjudgement\"","url":"https://time.com/3773184/obama-israel-iran-nuclear-deal-netanyahu/","keywords":["White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7633819496f30f32/698786ef2dce0117aa9de65f/barack-obama.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/blt7633819496f30f32/698786ef2dce0117aa9de65f/barack-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-IRAN-NUCLEAR-OBAMA","caption":"US-POLITICS-IRAN-NUCLEAR-OBAMA","creditText":"Nicholas Kamm—AFP/Getty Images","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/3773184/obama-israel-iran-nuclear-deal-netanyahu/","name":"Obama Rejects Recognition of Israel as Condition of Iran Deal"}}]}] ```