President says Iran deal will block a nuclear weapon, denies U.S. investment in Iran

The president said a recently negotiated agreement with Iran will prevent Tehran from ever acquiring a nuclear weapon and defended the pact as ‘‘a fair deal’’ while denying that the United States would invest money in Iran. "We are not investing any money in Iran," the president said, calling a circulating rumor that the U.S. would invest ‘‘ridiculous.’’

The president framed nonproliferation as the central objective: "The primary thing ... is Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. ... They're not going to develop it. They're not going to buy it." He added that if Iran attempted to obtain a weapon it would face ‘‘unbelievable consequences.’’

Asked about whether the United States pursued regime change, the president said he did not seek it, describing prior Iranian leaderships as more severe and asserting the current leaders were ‘‘rational.’’ The president also told the gathering that, in his view, ‘‘at least 42,000 protesters were killed in Iran,’’ a figure stated in the briefing transcript.

Nut graf: The remarks combine assurances about nuclear limits with political and human-rights commentary. The president placed the new agreement in contrast with a prior U.S. approach and emphasized enforcement and deterrence as the deal’s practical guarantees.

In the course of his remarks the president referenced steps his administration took in earlier years to counter Iran’s nuclear program, including the removal of enrichment material (which he described as destroying a site), and accused prior U.S. policy architects of enabling a path to a weapon. Those historical claims were presented as part of the argument for the current deal’s permanence.

The briefing included no formal legal text or timetable for implementation and offered no documentary evidence for the casualty figure attributed to protesters in Iran. The president repeatedly linked the pact to broader regional stability, saying it mattered ‘‘for the region, very important also for Iran as well.’’

The event closed with the president reiterating that preventing nuclear acquisition was the purpose of his support for the agreement and with a general expression of confidence that the deal would be enforced.

The president — identified in the transcript by his role — was the principal speaker throughout the discussion of Iran and its implications.