‘The US Will Not Sign Agreement That Threatens Israel,’ Says the White House

The U.S. government reaffirms that concerns about Iran persist and that the agreement focuses specifically on the nuclear program

The United States will not sign an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program that threatens Israel the White House stated this Friday, a day after negotiators reached a preliminary agreement with the Islamic Republic.

On Friday morning, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that he would need any final agreement with Iran to recognize the Jewish State’s right to exist.

When asked about Netanyahu’s comments, the White House spokesman, Eric Schultz, said he didn’t see the specific request, but claimed to be aware of the current concerns of Israel.

“We understand his position,” Schultz said to reporters aboard Air Force One, the presidential plane of the United States. “The president would never sign an agreement which he believed to be a threat to the State of Israel.”

Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, said on Friday in a televised speech that the agreement is “a first step toward productive interactions with the world.”

When asked about Rouhani’s comments, Schultz said he understood the need for Tehran to promote the pact among the Iranians, but that the United States sees the agreement as something that focuses on Iran’s nuclear program. He says, “The concerns we have with Iran outside of the nuclear program remain just as vibrant … yesterday as they are today.”

Schultz also said that President Barack Obama would continue approaching American legislators to discuss the tentative agreement.

Obama is scheduled to speak with the four congressional leaders: the Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner, Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, and Democratic Senator Harry Reid.