Sen. Marco Rubio criticized Secretary of State John Kerry during Thursday’s Senate Foreign Relations hearing on the Iran nuclear deal, calling it “irreparably flawed” while hitting the Obama administration for having “repeatedly capitulated” on various issues.
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MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EPA Secretary of State John Kerry blasted critics of the Iran nuclear deal Thursday in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Sen. Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said: “I think I heard Secretary Kerry use that term once”.
Republican Sen. Bob Corker, the committee’s chairman, said in his opening statement that Kerry was “fleeced” and GOP Sen.
But Mr Kerry said it was a “fantasy” to think the US could have held out for a better deal from Iran.
“The Emiratis are supportive”, Mr Kerry said, adding that Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Adel Al Jubeir, said that the Iran deal has all the provisions needed to prevent Tehran from building a nuclear weapon. “The alternative to the deal we’ve reached isn’t a better deal – some sort of unicorn arrangement involving Iran’s complete capitulation”. Washington suspects Tehran of having labored prior to now to construct nuclear weapons however Iran says its program is peaceable. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), who complained the agreement wouldn’t permit inspections at Iranian military facilities. President Barack Obama has promised to veto a rejection.
Those words are likely to haunt Kerry this week when he goes before Congress. This is not how others in the administration described the deal in April.
The deal was adopted by the UN Security Council on July 20.
Public opinion polls have suggested that of the 79 percent of Americans surveyed who heard about the Vienna deal, 48 percent disapprove.
French President Francois Hollande has conferred with his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rohani, and the two agreed to “step up bilateral cooperation”, Hollande’s office said.
Moniz added: “I can assure you that this is not what Iran wanted”, because it dials back Iran’s nuclear program significantly.
“One of the items we don’t have is regarding the agreement between Iran and the IAEA, and my sense is we’re never going to get that letter”, said Corker. Ben Cardin, D-Md., asked for details of the global inspection agreement to be released, those testifying maintained that it is standard procedure for the specifics of the deal between Iran and worldwide investigators to be kept confidential.
Cruz said at the rally that if economic sanctions on Iran are lifted under the deal, the Obama administration would become the “leading state sponsor and financier of radical Islamic terrorists”.
“The fact that Iran now has extensive experience with nuclear fuel cycle”, Kerry told the committee.
Democratic lawmakers have offered cautious support but have refused to publicly say whether they will support the deal.
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He said under the deal, Iran would still be able to build long-range ballistic missiles “that know only one goal and that is for nuclear warfare” and would provide billions “to a regime that… directly threatens the interests of the United States and our allies”.
