For the past week, Democrat leaders have been mourning the loss of Iran’s number one general, Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike outside of the Baghdad Airport in Iraq. Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is working with fellow Democrats to pass a new bill that would limit President Trump’s war powers over the killing of a man many consider to be one of the most dangerous terrorist leaders in the Middle East. Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff is calling for an investigation into the airstrike. Not one Democrat, however, is talking about the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran to the United States and the rest of the world. They’re certainly not mentioning how President Obama left office after spending eight years appeasing a nuclear Iran, essentially leaving the world less safe than when he took office.

With only 20 months left in his second term as president, Barack Obama admitted during an interview with PBS, that his weak nuclear negotiations with Iran would create a mess for future presidents. He warned that his nuclear agreement with Iran only delayed them from acquiring a nuclear weapon, which could happen immediately after his deal expired in 2028.

In April 2015, Fox News reported that President Obama admitted in a broadcast interview that his nuclear agreement with Iran only delays Tehran from eventually acquiring a weapon, which could come immediately after Year 13 of the agreement — leaving the problem for future presidents.

Obama made the comments about Tehran’s so-called “breakout time” in an interview with NPR News that aired Tuesday morning. The president was attempting to answer the charge that the deal framework agreed upon by the U.S., Iran, and five other nations last week fails to eliminate the risk of Iran getting a nuclear weapon because it allows Tehran to keep enriching uranium.

Obama said that Iran would be capped for a decade at 300 kilograms of uranium — not enough to convert to a stockpile of weapons-grade material.

“What is a more relevant fear would be that in Year 13, 14, 15, they have advanced centrifuges that enrich uranium fairly rapidly, and at that point, the breakout times would have shrunk almost down to zero,” Obama said.

The stark admission — after his energy secretary even claimed the deal was a “forever agreement” — came as the president seeks to quiet a growing chorus questioning whether the deal he and world leaders have negotiated merely delays the certainty of a nuclear-armed Iran. Obama has insisted confidently that Iran will not get a nuclear weapon on his watch, which ends in roughly 20 months, but has made no similar assurances about his successors.

Under the terms of the deal framework, Iran’s breakout time would be expanded from the present two to three months to at least a year. But that constraint would stay in place only for 10 years, at which point some restrictions would start phasing out.

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.


We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.