US President Barack Obama reassured critics of nuclear talks with Iran that he will not support an agreement that threatens US security, saying, "If there's no deal, then we walk away."
"If we cannot verify that they are not going to obtain a nuclear weapon, that there's a breakout period so that even if they cheated we would be able to have enough time to take action. If we don't have that kind of deal, then we're not going to take it," Obama said in an interview with CBS News.
The administration and five other world powers have until March 24 to reach an agreement with Iran.
"Over the next month or so, we're going to be able to determine whether or not their system is able to accept what would be an extraordinarily reasonable deal, if in fact, as they say, they are only interested in peaceful nuclear programs. And if we have unprecedented transparency in that system, if we are able to verify that in fact they are not developing weapons systems, then there's a deal to be had, but that's going to require them to accept the kind of verification and constraints on their program that so far, at least, they have not been willing to say yes to," Obama said.
He acknowledged that the talks have taken on "urgency" because they have been going on for well over a year.
The good news, he said, is that Iran has abided by the terms of the interim agreement. "We're not losing anything through these talks," he said.
