Obama: Netanyahu yet to ‘rebut’ value of Iran talks

WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not offered “any rebuttal” to his administration’s argument for the success of Iran nuclear talks.

“I don’t think there’s been any rebuttal of my argument,” Obama told Fareed Zakaria on CNN’s “New Day” in an interview to be broadcast Sunday. Zakaria’s publicists released excerpts on Wednesday.

Zakaria had asked Obama about plans by Netanyahu to speak to Congress on March 3. Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), the speaker of the US House of Representatives, invited Netanyahu to counter Obama’s arguments in his State of the Union speech last week that new Iran sanctions under consideration in Congress would unravel talks between Iran and the major powers.

Obama said in the speech that the talks, aimed at swapping sanctions relief for guarantees that Iran was not advancing toward a nuclear weapon, have halted Iran’s nuclear program.

“They have actually rolled back their stockpiles of highly enriched uranium,” the president told Zakaria. “And so we have lost nothing during this period of negotiations.”

Israeli officials, Republicans and some Democrats in Congress and some conservative and pro-Israel analysts have said that the agreement governing the talks, allowing Iran limited enrichment capabilities and easing some sanctions, benefits Iran more than it does the major powers seeking to stem its nuclear ambitions.

Obama also said that he would not meet Netanyahu during his visit, which coincides with the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, because doing so two weeks before an Israel election was “inappropriate.”

He compared Netanyahu unfavorably to British Prime Minister David Cameron, who visited earlier this month.

Cameron had insisted that his US visit avoid coming too close to British elections in early May.

Cameron “insisted that if he wants to come and it was a very important meeting, he needs to be far away enough from the election that it doesn’t look like in some ways we’re meddling or putting our thumbs on the scale.”

Ron Dermer, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, said in a speech Sunday at an Israel Bonds gala in Florida that the urgency of the Iran issue made Netanyahu’s speech necessary.