...

Q    And, Jay, very quickly, getting back to the questions about Iran and the interim nuclear deal from earlier this week.  A top Republican House lawmaker who said he has actually viewed the text of that agreement says that there are no signatures on it from the parties involved.  And I was just curious is the White House concerned that --

MR. CARNEY:  He’s not familiar with how this process works. There is no question that Iran and the members of the P5-plus-1 have entered into an agreement, the Joint Plan of Action, that commits both parties, both sides, and particularly the Iranians to a series of actions.  And the IAEA has validated that Iran has begun taking the steps that they committed to take in that agreement, so that’s how the process works.

...

Q    Will the President take the opportunity on Tuesday night to defend the nuclear deal, interim nuclear deal with Iran, given the fact that it’s facing such skepticism in Congress?

MR. CARNEY:  Steve, again, without going into specifics about the speech the President will give, I think that State of the Union addresses tend to encompass a number of subjects, both foreign and domestic.  And I’m not going to detail what the President is going to talk about, but there is a certain tradition to the form. 

So setting aside the State of the Union address, I can say that the President has been very clear about why he believes -- and he knows the American people join him overwhelmingly in this belief -- that it would be far better to ensure through a verifiable, transparent agreement with the Iranians that Iran will not and cannot obtain a nuclear weapon than to have to resort to force, for example. 

Now, he takes no options off the table, and he will not take any option off the table in dealing with this very important issue.  But he believes it’s absolutely the right and responsible thing to do to test the hypothesis that Iran may be willing to negotiate a comprehensive solution to this challenge; to come clean, if you will, and get right with the international community and its international obligations; to take the steps necessary to provide the assurance to the P5-plus-1 and everyone else with great concern about Iran’s nuclear program that they have forsaken their ambitions for nuclear weapons.  So he certainly feels strongly about that.

Q    Just going back to these statements the Iranian leaders made, which you spoke about yesterday, regardless of whether they’re accurate or not or whether they’re part of some domestic spin operation, do they make it more difficult to build support in Washington for this nuclear deal?

MR. CARNEY:  I think that everyone with a keen interest in this issue here in Washington and around the world is focused on what Iran does:  whether or not Iran abides by its commitments; whether or not Iran takes the actions prescribed in the Joint Plan of Action.  And so far, we are seeing in these early stages Iran comply with its obligations.  Those are actions, those aren’t words.  And that’s what we pay attention to, and I think that that’s what the folks around Washington and the world who pay the most attention to this challenge are focused on.

What I can’t say with any assurance is where we’ll be in six months.  Obviously a challenge like this is a difficult one to resolve, and these are going to be tough negotiations.  But what has I think been made clear by us and other participants in the P5-plus-1 is that the purpose of the approach we took and the fact that we left the sanctions regime in place and very severe sanctions in place, and the capacity to turn back on even the modest sanctions relief that was provided as part of this agreement reflects the fact that there are no guarantees that Iran is going to take the steps necessary to reach an agreement with the P5-plus-1 in the end.  But it’s absolutely the right thing to do to pursue it the way that we’ve pursued it and to reach this interim agreement, which halts progress on Iran’s nuclear program, rolls it back in some cases, while we test whether or not Iran is serious about reaching a final agreement.

Jessica.

Q    Just a follow-up.

MR. CARNEY:  And then Roger.

Q    On the subject of Iran, the Secretary General of the IAEA says he’s asking the P5-plus-1 and others for more budget and people to staff inspections in Iran, basically to beef up the verification operation.  Is the White House aware of that and ready to chip in?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, we obviously believe that the role played by the IAEA is very important here.  I don’t have anything on that request.  I would refer you to State Department.  We can take the question.  But it’s very important that the IAEA be able to fulfill the responsibilities it’s taken on in monitoring the implementation of this agreement.

...