Secretary John Kerry shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.
Advertisement
“Secretary Kerry admitted what we suspected all along – that the nuclear deal Hillary Clinton spearheaded with Iran is a giant stimulus bill for radical Islamic terrorists”, Priebus said.
The US Treasury said Sunday it was imposing sanctions on five Iranian nationals and a network of companies based in the United Arab Emirates and China in connection with Iran’s ballistic missile programme.
In a later interview, Kerry appeared to be softening his earlier statement, saying that he understands the IRGC is “already complaining that they are not getting the money”, the Associated Press reported.
In an interview from the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Kerry conceded the United States can’t prevent that from happening.
As for other frayed relations in the region, Kerry acknowledged “a skepticism on the part of some”, but said he was headed to meet with Gulf state leaders, “and I’m convinced that we will see the way forward, in a way that keeps us united, keeps us on the same page with respect to security, and indeed, upgrades their ability to defend themselves in a unsafe region”.
USA officials say Iran’s missile test in October violated U.N. Security Council restrictions on such activity.
Kerry told CNBC he met with Netanyahu Thursday and “of course we have a different opinion on this, and I respect completely Israel’s perception of the threat that Israel faces”.
Kerry also said progress was being made in the campaign against ISIS, which has been pushed out of 30% to 40% of the territory it once held in Iraq and Syria.
Kerry reaffirmed that the fight against violent extremism is “the challenge of our generation” and said it would be a long struggle, but he promised that “we are heading in the right direction”. The Israeli leader continues to warn that the lifting of sanctions will embolden Iran’s leaders “to destabilize and spread terrorism” throughout the Middle East.
Kerry repeated the Obama administration’s argument that many critics of the Iran deal are inflating the amount of money that Iran now has access to.
While Republicans hailed the Americans’ release, they blasted the Obama administration as foolish for negotiating a prisoner swap with Iran that they say creates an incentive for other rogue countries to detain innocent Americans to gain concessions from Washington.
Advertisement
The top U.S. diploamt further claimed that the sanctions against Iran and other nations have been “used judiciously and effectively”.
