WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE JCPOA

DAVID CAMERON, PRIME MINISTER OF GREAT BRITAIN, IS INTERVIEWED ON NBC'S"MEET THE PRESS"JULY 19, 2015SPEAKERS: DAVID CAMERON, PRIME MINISTER OF GREAT BRITAINCHUCK TODD, NBC NEWS HOST[*] CHUCK TODD, NBC NEWS HOST: On Friday I was joined by the head of one of thosepowers, a key advocate of the agreement, British Prime Minister David Cameron. I started byasking him, why he decided to sign off on this deal.(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)DAVID CAMERON, PRIME MINISTER OF GREAT BRITAIN: Because I think it's so muchbetter than the alternative. I think that if there wasn't a deal, I think we would face Iran with anuclear weapon and that would have given a terrible choice to the West by enabling that,allowing that to happen or a very difficult decision to take military action.So this is the better outcome. It keeps Iran away from a nuclear weapon. It's a successfulnegotiation for the Allies and I think we should be proud of a good deal done.Now, of course, there will be those that complain about details of the deal but fundamentally,this is the toughest set of proposals put in place, verification put in place, inspection put in placethan I think we've seen in any of these sorts of negotiations.I think it is a good deal. It was right to get on with it. And the sanctions pressure worked. And Ithink that's all to the credit to the U.S. administration, to Barack Obama but also the action takenin Europe, too.TODD: Well, a lot of the criticism that's coming here in the United States and from some of keyMiddle East allies of both Great Britain and the United States -- I'm talking Israel and SaudiArabia in particular -- is that this deal did not demand any other behavior changes in Iranoutside of their nuclear weapons program.It didn't demand changes in what they're doing in Syria, what they're doing in Yemen, essentiallythe influence that -- their undue influence that they're trying to exert in the Middle East. Why notinclude all that?CAMERON: Well, this deal was about the nuclear issue. And I think the right way to concludethe deal was to make it about the nuclear issue.But you know, we shouldn't be naive or starry-eyed in any way about the regime that we'redealing with. And I'm certainly not. I spoke to President Rouhani yesterday and said that wewant to see a change in the approach that Iran takes to issues like Syria and Yemen and toterrorism in the region. And we want a change in behavior that should follow from that change.We're not starry-eyed at all, and I'd reassure our Gulf allies about that but actually taking thenuclear weapon issue off the table -- that is a success for America and Britain and our allies andwe should be clear about that.