Obama: Critics of Iran deal have 'legitimate concerns'

WASHINGTON — President Obama says critics of the Iran nuclear agreement are "ideological" and "illogical." But in a pair of interviews released Monday, Obama also concedes that opponents of the deal have some honest arguments.

Obama told National Public Radio there's a "deafening silence" from opponents of the deal about alternatives to the agreement.  "And what that tells me is that there may be ideological opposition to doing any business with Iran. There may be skepticism with any diplomatic initiative with a regime that is admittedly antagonistic towards us, anti-Semitic, a sponsor of terrorism: and that's an honest argument," he said in an interview to air Tuesday.

"If you just say, 'we don't think you should deal with Iran,' then that at least has a logic to it," he said.

Obama is taking his annual August vacation on Martha's Vineyard Island in Massachusetts, but sat down for interviews with the two news organizations last week. Those interviews, conducted after his American University speech last week accusing Republicans of being in "common cause" with Iranian hard-liners, gave a more nuanced argument for the accord.

In a separate interview with the youth-oriented news site Mic.com, Obama said there are "absolutely" legitimate concerns about the agreement.

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"It is absolutely true that Iran has a history of trying to play it close to the line when it comes to its nuclear program. And so we do have to be very vigilant about inspections," he said. "It’s true that under this agreement in 15 years time, they will be in a position to install more powerful centrifuges that produce uranium and that at that point they could conceivably break out and try to get a nuclear weapon."

But he said by that point, the United States and the international community would be in an even better position.

"We’ll have just as much if not more ability to stop them at that point than they would if they are doing it right now," he said. "And in the meantime we would have purchased 15 years in which we know exactly what they’re doing."