Iran has rejected a plan by the Obama administration that would freeze its nuclear activities for a decade.
“Obama’s stance … is expressed in unacceptable and threatening phrases. … Iran will not accept excessive and illogical demands. … Tehran will continue nuclear negotiations with the six powers,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted as saying by Fars, Reuters reported Tuesday.
Mr. Obama told Reuters on Monday that the nuclear freeze was needed for talks with the major world powers to succeed by the end of March.
“If, in fact, Iran is willing to agree to double-digit years of keeping their program where it is right now and, in fact, rolling back elements of it that currently exist … if we’ve got that, and we’ve got a way of verifying that, there’s no other steps we can take that would give us such assurance that they don’t have a nuclear weapon,” Mr. Obama said Monday, Reuters reported.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.