President Obama says the Iranian nuclear deal is the "right thing" to do regardless of Tehran's opaque future "because we can't bank on the nature of the regime changing."
In an interview with NPR, Obama said the most important goal in dealing with Iran is to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon; convincing Tehran to make progress on other fronts — like human rights and the propagation of violence in the region — would be welcome, too, but not as necessary.
"The deal is not dependent on anticipating those changes," Obama said. "If they don't change at all, we're still better off having the deal."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.