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                    Obama Calls on Iran to Free 4 Americans

   by VOA News

   U.S. President Barack Obama demanded Tuesday that Iran release three
   Americans it is holding and help find a fourth believed to be in the
   country.

   "We are not going to relent until we bring home our Americans who are
   unjustly detained in Iran," Obama told a Veterans of Foreign Wars
   convention in Pittsburgh.

   "Journalist Jason Rezaian should be released. Pastor Saeed Abedini
   should be released. Amir Hekmati, a former sergeant in the U.S. Marines
   Corps, should be released. Iran needs to help us find Robert Levinson.
   These Americans need to be back home with their families."

   Some family members, friends and associates of the four have criticized
   Obama for not winning the release of the captives as part of last
   week's international deal with Tehran to at least temporarily block its
   construction of a nuclear weapon in exchange for lifting crippling
   economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations and Western nations.

   Obama defended the agreement negotiated by Britain, France, Germany,
   Russia, China and the U.S. with Iran, calling it "a smarter, more
   responsible way to protect our national security."

   The United Nations Security Council unanimously endorsed the deal
   Monday, but Republican critics of Obama in the U.S. Congress have
   promised a thorough review of it over the next 60 days before voting
   whether to support or reject it.

   President Obama says he will veto a congressional rejection of the
   pact, which would force both the House and Senate to produce a
   two-thirds majority to override the measure.

   "The same politicians and pundits that are so quick to reject the
   possibility of a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear program are the
   same folks who were so quick to go to war in Iraq and said it would
   only take a few months,'' Obama told the veterans' convention.

   But Obama acknowledged the U.S. still expects difficult confrontations
   with Tehran.

   "Even with this deal, we'll continue to have serious differences with
   the Iranian government, its support of terrorism, proxies that
   destabilize the Middle East," he said. "But we can't let them off the
   hook. Our sanctions for Iran's support for terrorism and its ballistic
   missile program and its human rights violations, those sanctions will
   remain in place. And we will stand with allies and partners, including
   Israel, to oppose Iran's dangerous behavior," he said.

   Obama called Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday to thank him for
   Beijing's role in completing the Iranian pact. The White House said the
   two leaders agreed that cooperation between the U.S. and China is
   critical to the implementation of the accord.

   Meanwhile, North Korea said it has no interest in negotiations similar
   to those conducted with Iran that would result in Pyongyang giving up
   its nuclear capability.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/obama-calls-on-iran-to-free-four-amer
   icans/2872167.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/obama-calls-on-iran-to-free-four-americans/2872167.html