In announcing a nuclear deal with Iran, President Barack Obama echoed many of the same sentiments of another Democratic president announcing a similar deal.
On Oct. 21, 1994, President Bill Clinton announced the “Agreed Framework,” a deal negotiated with North Korea to end their pursuit of a nuclear weapon from the exact spot in the White House where President Obama announced his deal with Iran.
“Before I take your questions, I’d like to say just a word about the framework with North Korea that Ambassador Gallucci signed this morning. This is a good deal for the United States,” Clinton said. “North Korea will freeze and then dismantle its nuclear program. South Korea and our other allies will be better protected. The entire world will be safer as we slow the spread of nuclear weapons.”
President Obama said, “Iran is permanently prohibited from pursuing a nuclear weapon under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which provided the basis for the international community’s efforts to apply pressure on Iran.”
Clinton concluded his remarks by saying, “The United States and international inspectors will carefully monitor North Korea to make sure it keeps its commitments. Only as it does so will North Korea fully join the community of nations.”
“Inspectors will have access to Iran’s entire nuclear supply chain — its uranium mines and mills, its conversion facility, and its centrifuge manufacturing and storage facilities,” Obama assured the world. “This ensures that Iran will not be able to divert materials from known facilities to covert ones. Some of these transparency measures will be in place for 25 years.”
On Oct. 9, 2006, North Korea took the world by surprise when they conducted their first successful test of a nuclear weapon.