White House national security adviser Susan Rice discussed, in an interview with the USA Today, the fight against the Islamic State, the Iran deal and the select Benghazi committee.
On Iran, Rice was upbeat about the prospects for reaching a long-sought agreement to curb Tehran’s nuclear program. The June 30 deadline to fill in the details on the framework released last month is just six weeks away.
'I wouldn’t say ’confident.’ (I’m) hopeful,' Rice said. She called the odds 'slightly' better than 50-50 that the negotiations between Iran and the international negotiating group that includes the United States and five other countries will be successful.
'We’re working very hard on this, our negotiators are, but it has to be a deal that meets our fundamental bottom line,' she said, saying the administration was prepared to walk away from a deal that failed to do that. 'A good deal needs to cut off all of Iran’s pathways to a nuclear weapon, including any covert ones, and extend the breakout timeline for Iran’s ability to obtain the material for a nuclear weapon to a year or more.'
A Camp David summit with President Obama and Arab Gulf leaders last week was 'very substantive and productive' in addressing their concerns about the consequences of an Iran deal, she said. She also expressed confidence that an agreement, if reached, would pass muster with Congress. The House last week overwhelmingly passed a Senate bill that gives Congress 30 days to review a deal.
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