Following more harsh words from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the impending nuclear deal between Iran and the West, Jeb Bush took to Twitter Wednesday to denounce the Obama administration’s efforts to broker an agreement.
The GOP presidential candidate and former Florida governor tweeted that “The Ayatollah moves the goal post again. Obama can’t seem to take no for an answer, assume more concessions coming…”.
Iran’s supreme leader expressed stark dissatisfaction with the nuclear agreement on Tuesday, laying out new “red lines” only a week before the deal’s June 30 deadline.
Khamenei stated that Iran not only disagrees with the 10-12 year limitation on nuclear development and research, but that sanctions must be immediately removed under any deal.
“Lifting of sanctions should not be tied to Iran’s execution of its commitments,” Khamenei said. “It should not be said that you carry out the commitments, then, IAEA verifies so that the sanctions will be lifted. We will never agree with it.”
He also slammed the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency and indicated Iran would be reluctant to cooperate with it, saying that “the agency has repeatedly proved that it is not an independent and fair body.”
The White House, however, downplayed Iranian rhetoric on Wednesday afternoon.
“We’re less concerned about the words and much more concerned about the actions,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said at the daily news briefing.
He said those actions include both what negotiators do when they sit down with the United States and other world powers and the behavior of the Iranians “as they implement an agreement, if one can be reached.”
He did, however, note that hurdles remain in hammering out a deal.
“I would acknowledge that there continues to be some difficult challenges that have to be met in order to successfully complete an agreement along the time frame that we have set out here,” he said.
Khamenei’s statements Tuesday night pose complications for the United States, which has said that the agreement would remove sanctions gradually as IAEA inspectors confirm Iran is continuing to fulfill its part of the agreement.
“Studying the process of Americans’ demands shows that their target is uprooting Iran’s nuclear industry, destroying the country’s nuclear nature and transforming it to a caricature and a picture without substance,” Khamenei said in reference to the nuclear talks with the U.S.
While Earnest did not related directly to Khamenei’s comments, he said the inspections remained a key component of the deal.
“Central to this agreement will be Iran’s commitment to cooperate with a set of intrusive inspections to verify their compliance with the agreement,” he said.