Obama ’Confident’ of Iran Success

Local Editor

The White House said it is "confident" of reaching a final deal over Iran's nuclear program by an end-of-June deadline.

A framework agreement struck on Friday relieving Iran from sanctions as it would pursue its peaceful uranium enrichment program.

US Republicans skeptical to the deal had threatened to derail it or impose new sanctions. However, Obama said he had begun efforts to win over skeptical members of Congress.

The US President spoke to all four congressional leaders on Friday, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.

Republicans control both US Houses of Congress, and there was bipartisan support for a bill which would give Congress the right to review any deal before sanctions were lifted. Though, Obama had threatened to veto it.

In his speech on Thursday hailing the deal, the US President anticipated his critics.

"If Congress kills this deal not based on expert analysis, and without offering any reasonable alternative, then it's the United States that will be blamed for the failure of diplomacy."

Despite the domestic pressure, the White House gave another upbeat assessment of the deal.
"We defied the odds," Schultz said. "I do think there's a lot of work to be done, but we are confident that we can get those details in place."

Iran's President, Hassan Rouhani, had vowed Iran would abide by the terms of the preliminary nuclear agreement it signed with six world powers, so long as they do too.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team