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EFTA02406470 | EFTA02406475 PRESIDENT OBAMA: I think you're right to describe it as a continuum.=There is no doubt they are isolated. They have a very ingrown political sy=tem. They are founded and fueled on hostility towards the United States, l=rael, and to some degree the West. And they have shown themselves willing to go outside international norms arc' international rules to achieve their objectives. All of this makes them =angerous. They've also been willing to crush opposition in their own count=y in brutal and bloody ways. GOLDBERG: Do you think they are messianic? PRESIDENT OBAMA: I think it's entirely legitimate to say that this i= a regime that does not share our worldview or our values. I do think, and=this is what General Dempsey was probably referring to, that as we look at=how they operate and the decisions they've made over the past three decades, that they care about the regime'= survival. They're sensitive to the opinions of the people and they are tr=ubled by the isolation that they're experiencing. They know, for example, =hat when these kinds of sanctions are applied, it puts a world of hurt on them. They are able to make decisi=ns based on trying to avoid bad outcomes from their perspective. So if the='re presented with options that lead to either a lot of pain from their pe=spective, or potentially a better path, then there's no guarantee that they can't make a better decision. GOLDBERG: It seems unlikely that a regime built on anti-Americanism =ould want to appear to succumb to an Americanled sanctions effort. PRESIDENT OBAMA: I think the question here is going to be: What exac=ly are their genuine interests? Now, what we've seen, what we've heard dir=ctly from them over the last couple of weeks is that nuclear weapons are s=nful and unIslamic. And those are formal speeches from the supreme leader and their foreign minister. GOLDBERG: Do you believe their sincerity? PRESIDENT OBAMA: My point here is not that I believe the sincerity o= the statements coming out of the regime. The point is that for them to pr=ve to the international community that their intentions are peaceful and t=at they are, in fact, not pursuing weapons, is not inconsistent with what they've said. So it doesn't require=them to knuckle under to us. What it does require is for them to actually =how to the world that there is consistency between their actions and their=statements. And that's something they should be able to do without losing face. GOLDBERG: Let me flip this entirely around and ask: Why is containme=t not your policy? In the sense that we contained the Soviet Union, North =orea -PRESIDENT OBAMA: It's for the reason I described -- because you're t=lking about the most volatile region in the world. It will not be tolerabl= to a number of states in that region for Iran to have a nuclear weapon an= them not to have a nuclear weapon. Iran is known to sponsor terrorist organizations, so the threat of prolife=ation becomes that much more severe. The only analogous situation is North=Korea. We have applied a lot of pressure on North Korea as well and, in fa=t, today found them willing to suspend some of their nuclear activities and missile testing and come back=to the table. But North Korea is even more isolated, and certainly less ca=able of shaping the environment [around it] than Iran is. And so the dange=s of an Iran getting nuclear weapons that then leads to a free-for-all in the Middle East is something that I t=ink would be very dangerous for the world. GOLDBERG: Do you see accidental nuclear escalation as an issue? PRESIDENT OBAMA: Absolutely. Look, the fact is, I don't think any of=it would be accidental. I think it would be very intentional. If Iran gets=a nuclear weapon, I won't name the countries, but there are probably four =r five countries in the Middle East who say, "We are going to start a program, and we will have nucl=ar weapons." And at that point, the prospect for miscalculation in a =egion that has that many tensions and fissures is profound. You essentiall= then duplicate the challenges of India and Pakistan fivefold or tenfold. 6 EFTA_R1_01448624 EFTA02406475
April 8, 2026 at 9:34 AM