US President Barack Obama has not received a "good answer" from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu regarding alternatives to a permanent nuclear agreement with Iran, he stated during remarks at a Panama conference late Saturday night.
"Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opposes this agreement deeply; he is clear on that," Obama said, according to the Associated Press. "I asked again and again what the alternative would be to make it less likely for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons - and I have not received a good answer to this."
Obama also discussed the process of ratifying the agreement - which is expected to be handed to Congress - and the possibility that Congress will try to reject the agreement.
"I spoke with the Democratic leadership in Congress, and I want to work with them so that Congress will deliberate the agreement's final draft," Obama said, implying that he does not want Capitol Hill to be involved until the final stages. "I want to make sure that we do not judge the agreement too early, before it is final, so that those who are opposed to any agreement will not interfere with it, even if it [the final draft - ed.] is a good agreement."
Obama's statements surface hours after Iranian Revolutionary Guards chief General Mohammed Ali Jafari, who is considered to be one of the most influential men in Tehran, stated publicly that the US conceded all of its red lines in negotiating the deal.
Jafari also accused the US of "fraud" and "psychological warfare" in publishing a fact sheet announcing what the US claims was agreed on in the framework deal, which Jafari called a false translation. He said the US did so to deceive its allies regarding the scope of the deal.
Obama likewise admitted in an interview last week that as a result of the deal, Iran will be able to reach a "zero" breakout time by 2028, meaning it could produce nuclear weapons immediately whenever it wanted to.