Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) said Wednesday on Fox News that President Obama contradicted an earlier statement to NPR when he told Israeli TV that a nuclear deal with Iran would potentially stop it from having a nuclear weapon for 20 years.
"We know that there's already an agreement relative to the Iranian nuclear development program beginning in year 10, and when the president said in that clip you just played that they cannot get a nuclear weapon for 20 years," Corker said. "That's contrary to what he said on NPR right after the April 2 agreement, where in essence he said, ‘Look, you go down to almost zero time in Year 13.’ It's time to get our hands on this document that we know exists. It's not signed, but it's our understanding of what we agreed will be the Iranian nuclear development program. All of us want to see what our administration has agreed to there."
Obama made the remarks in question last week.
"What is the worst scenario is the path that we're currently on in which there's no nuclear resolution and ultimately we have no way to verify whether Iran has a weapon or not," Obama said. "Sanctions won't do it. A military solution is temporary. The deal that we're negotiating potentially takes a nuclear weapon off the table for 20 years."
But in an interview with NPR on the temporary pact with Iran over its nuclear program, he said otherwise.
"So essentially, we're purchasing for 13, 14, 15 years assurances that the breakout is at least a year ... that—that if they decided to break the deal, kick out all the inspectors, break the seals and go for a bomb, we'd have over a year to respond," Obama said. "And we have those assurances for at least well over a decade. And then in years 13 and 14, it is possible that those breakout times would have been much shorter, but at that point we have much better ideas about what it is that their program involves."
Obama also has taken heat for calling a military solution "temporary" and effectively taking it off the table. Corker, the Foreign Relations Committee chairman, said the Iranians never thought Obama would go for that response anyway.