No nuclear deal with Iran unless actions ‘verifiable’: U.S.

U.S. national security adviser says there will not be a final nuclear deal if Washington is not satisfied by verifiable action from Iran regarding its nuclear program, Reuters reported.

Addressing an Israeli Independence Day celebration in Washington, Susan Rice on Monday sought to reassure a pro-Israel audience that Washington would take a tough line with Tehran, despite Israeli worries that the Obama administration is giving up too much in the negotiations, according to the report.

Iran and the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany), are leading talks to build on an interim deal struck in Geneva in November 2013 to reach a comprehensive agreement to help resolve the decade-old dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Under the Geneva deal, Iran agreed not to expand its nuclear program for six months in exchange for limited sanctions relief. The agreement came into force on January 20. Iran and the major powers have set a July 20 deadline to clinch a long-term nuclear deal.

“We all have a responsibility to give diplomacy a chance to succeed. But America won’t be satisfied by mere words. We will only be satisfied by verifiable action from Iran,” Rice said to light applause from an audience that included Israeli diplomats and American supporters of the Israeli regime.

“Put simply, if we are not satisfied, there will be no deal,” Rice, who visited Israel last week, said, promising continued consultations with Israeli officials.

Iran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia will meet in Vienna on Wednesday for a new round of negotiations aimed at reaching a broad diplomatic settlement of the nuclear dispute.

Israel is widely assumed to have the Middle East’s only atomic arsenal.