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By Bloomberg

Iran hasn’t agreed to the U.S. insistence that economic sanctions be phased out gradually in a deal to curb that country’s nuclear program, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.

While the U.S. “will insist upon” sanctions relief being tied to Iran meeting its commitments under an accord, Earnest told reporters in Washington on Monday, the timing still needs to be negotiated in further talks.

The comments, days after last week’s framework agreement in Switzerland between Iran and six world powers, raise questions about the original U.S. account of the accord. An American “fact sheet,” immediately disputed by Iran, said sanctions would be suspended only after international inspectors verified Iran’s compliance and may “snap back” into place if the terms are violated.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry predicted that Iran would need four months to a year just to complete the steps required under the agreement before any sanctions relief, which he said would be provided “in phases.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif cited a joint statement by his country and the European Union saying that the EU will “terminate the implementation” of nuclear-related sanctions and the U.S. “will cease the application” of them “simultaneously” with the verification.

“It has never been our position that all of the sanctions against Iran should be removed on Day One,” Earnest said on Monday. “That is their position.”

Energy Secretary

The framework announced on April 2 in Lausanne, Switzerland, sets the parameters for further negotiations needed to complete a signed, comprehensive agreement by a June 30 deadline.

On provisions to restrict Iran’s nuclear program, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz downplayed differences between the U.S. and Iran.

“There’s no doubt that right now there is a different narrative, but not in conflict with what’s written down, just selective,” he told reporters at the same White House briefing.

Moniz said the provisions of the framework, if converted into a final agreement, would block all of Iran’s pathways to nuclear weapons and provide at least a one-year warning time if Iran tries to break out and race to produce a nuclear device.

The framework would allow for “unprecedented” inspection powers for the International Atomic Energy Agency, he said. An envisioned dispute-resolution procedure, if Iran balked at a particular inspection demand, would be empowered to resolve the disagreement quickly, he said.

Reassure Israel

Separately, a top foreign policy aide to President Barack Obama warned Iran that the U.S. might still take military action to disrupt its nuclear weapons program if a final accord were violated.

Any attempt to subvert the agreement would leave “all options on the table,” including military options, deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told Israel’s Channel 2.

The White House has long maintained that while it preferred a diplomatic solution, the president would use military force to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon if no accord could be reached.

Obama said anti-Israel statements from Iran did not warrant abandoning a deal that would curb the Islamic republic’s nuclear program.

‘Fundamental Misjudgment’

“The notion that we would condition Iran not getting nuclear weapons in a verifiable deal on Iran recognizing Israel is really akin to saying we won’t sign a deal unless the nature of the Iranian regime completely transforms,” he said in an interview with National Public Radio that aired Monday. “That is, I think, a fundamental misjudgment.”

Earnest on Monday acknowledged a “deliberate attempt” to address issues raised about the pact’s impact on the security of Israel. Over the weekend, Obama said in an interview with the New York Times that he was “absolutely committed” to Israel’s security and that it had been “personally difficult” to hear criticism of that pledge.

“An agreement like this that would prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon isn’t just in the best national security interests of the United States, which it is,” Earnest told reporters Monday. “It’s also clearly in the best interests of the nation of Israel.”