Give diplomacy a chance in Iran, Obama tells US lawmakers

United States President Barack Obama on Friday mounted a strong defence of his outreach to Iran, saying there was no need to impose new sanctions on the West Asian country, as current negotiations have a good chance to halt its controversial nuclear programme.

In a press conference at the White House, Obama warned US lawmakers not to derail diplomatic efforts to end the nuclear impasse. Efforts in Congress to pass tougher economic sanctions could damage recent moves to halt Iran's alleged drive to make weapon-grade nuclear fuel, he said.

Obama stressed that any break in the diplomatic momentum towards a deal could force Washington into another military conflict with a Middle East power.

Obama said the six-month interim agreement struck last month between Iran and the world's leading nations should stand as a test of Tehran's willingness to come to a deal with the international community.

"It is very important to test whether that's possible, not because it's guaranteed but because the alternative is us having to engage in some kind of conflict to resolve the problem with all kinds of unintended consequences," he said. "It is my goal to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, but I sure would rather do it diplomatically."

Obama said that Iran has agreed to actions that will let other nations determine whether it is trying to make a weapon, adding that he would support tougher sanctions later if Iran violates the agreement.

He asked the Congress not to impose new sanctions against Iran and give current diplomacy a chance to work.

''Even with the interim deal that we struck in Geneva, we had the first halt and, in some cases, some rollback of Iran's nuclear capabilities - the first time that we've seen that in almost a decade,'' he said, referring to the recent deal with Iran by the US-led group of six countries.

''We now have a structure in which we can have a very serious conversation to see is it possible for Iran to get right with the international community in a verifiable fashion to give us all confidence that any peaceful nuclear program that they have is not going to be weaponized in a way that threatens us or allies in the region, including Israel,'' Obama said.

His comments came a day after White House press secretary Jay Carney warned for the first time that Obama would veto any new sanctions legislation Congress enacts before the interim deal with Iran expires.