President Obama: Fundamental misjudgment to require Iran to recognize Israel as part of nuclear deal

President Obama said that it is a "fundamental misjudgment" to require Iran to recognize Israel's right to exist as part of the nuclear deal reached with the Iranians.

"The notion that we would condition Iran not getting nuclear weapons in a verifiable deal on Iran recognizing Israel is really akin to saying that we won't sign a deal unless the nature of the Iranian regime completely transforms.

"And that is, I think, a fundamental misjudgment.

"I want to return to this point: We want Iran not to have nuclear weapons precisely because we can't bank on the nature of the regime changing. That's exactly why we don't want to have nuclear weapons. If suddenly Iran transformed itself to Germany or Sweden or France then there would be a different set of conversations about their nuclear infrastructure," President Obama said during an interview with NPR.

President Obama was responding to a question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanting a "clear and unambiguous Iranian commitment of Israel's right to exist" as part of any nuclear deal with Iran.