After weeks of controversy, the moment of truth has arrived. At 11 a.m. U.S. Eastern time (6 p.m. Israel time) on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will rise to the podium and deliver an address on Iran to a joint session of Congress, with the entire world looking on. In the speech, Netanyahu will warn of the dangers posed by the emerging nuclear agreement between world powers and Iran. Sitting behind Netanyahu during his speech will be House Speaker John Boehner and veteran Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, the president pro tempore of the Senate. According to Boehner's office, there are 10 times as many requests for tickets to Netanyahu's speech than there are seats available. "The demand for tickets -- I've never seen anything like it," Boehner said. "Everybody wants to be there." After his speech, Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, will attend a reception hosted by Boehner. Later, Netanyahu will hold a bipartisan meeting with Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority leader Harry Reid. Meanwhile, in an interview with Reuters on Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama called Netanyahu's speech to Congress a "mistake" and a "distraction." "Our focus should be, 'How do we stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon-'" Obama said. "This is not a personal issue," Obama said of his disagreement with Netanyahu. "I think that it is important for every country in its relationship with the United States to recognize that the U.S. has a process of making policy. And although we have separation of powers, ultimately, the interaction with foreign governments runs through the executive branch. That's true whether it's a Democratic president or a Republican president. And that's true regardless of how close the ally is." "Given Iran's record and given the extraordinarily disruptive and dangerous activities of this regime in the region, it's understandable why Israel is very concerned about Iran. We are too. But what we've consistently said is we have to stay focused on our ultimate goal, which is preventing Iran from having a nuclear weapon. "Now, as a matter of policy, we think it's a mistake for the prime minister of any country to come to speak before Congress a few weeks before they are about to have an election. It makes it look like we are taking sides." Obama asserted that Netanyahu's fears about the interim nuclear agreement reached between world powers and Iran in November 2013 proved to be baseless. "Keep in mind the prime minister, when we signed up for this interim deal that would essentially freeze Iran's program, roll back its highly enriched uranium -- its 20% highly enriched uranium -- and so reduce the possibility that Iran might breakout while we were engaged in these negotiations, when we first announced this interim a deal, Prime Minister Netanyahu made all sorts of claims. This was going to be a terrible deal. This was going to result in Iran getting 50 billion dollars worth of relief. Iran would not abide by the agreement. None of that has come true. "It has turned out that, in fact, during this period we've seen Iran not advance its program. In many ways, it's rolled back elements of its program. And we've got more insight into what they're doing with more vigorous inspections than even the supporters of an interim deal suggested. "So the question is this: If in fact we are trying to finalize a deal, why not wait to see. ... Is there actually going to be a deal? Can Iran accept the terms that we're laying out? If in fact Iran can accept terms that would ensure a one-year breakout period for ten years or longer and during that period we know Iran is not developing a nuclear weapon -- we have inspectors on the ground that give us assurances that they're not creating a covert program -- why would we not take that deal when we know the alternatives, whether through sanctions or military actions, will not result in as much assurance that Iran is developing a nuclear weapon? "There's no good reason for us not to let the negotiations play themselves out. Then we'll show, here -- here's the deal that's been negotiated, does it make sense? And I am confident that if, in fact, a deal is arrived at, then it's going to be a deal that is most likely to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon." Obama further claimed, "There's no expert on Iran or nuclear proliferation around the world that seriously thinks that Iran is going to respond to additional sanctions by eliminating its nuclear program." The Obama administration appears to be concerned Netanyahu will reveal secret details about the emerging Iran nuclear deal in his speech to Congress. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday, "The United States has been providing our Israeli allies regular detailed classified briefings to give them the context about the progress that we're making in the context of these conversations [with Iran]. The release of that information would betray the trust between our allies and it certainly is inconsistent with trust between allies." And in Geneva, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said, "We are concerned by reports that suggest selected details of the ongoing negotiations will be discussed publicly in the coming days. I want to say clearly, doing so would make it more difficult to reach the goal that Israel and others say they share in order to get a good deal. Israel's security is absolutely at the forefront of all our minds but rightly so is the security of all the other countries in the region, so is our security in the United States." Kerry met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Geneva on Monday. "Right now, no deal exists, no partial deal exists and unless Iran is able to make the difficult decisions that are required there won't be a deal," Kerry said. The New York Times reported on Monday on the relationship Kerry and Zarif have developed during the course of the nuclear negotiations. "They have spent long hours alone together," the article said. "They exchange private emails. Their walk along the Rhone River in Geneva in January so unnerved hard-line lawmakers in Tehran that they signed a petition fretting about the duo's unseemly 'intimacy.'"
Credit: Reuters
Obama said he believed Netanyahu was "sincere about his concerns with respect to Iran."
