Secretary of State John Kerry warned that killing the Iran deal would endanger the United State’s standing with the international community.
Speaking at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Kerry said rejecting the deal would be “puzzling” to the rest of the world and would cause a “self-destructive blow to our nation’s credibility and leadership.” He added that if Iran is then able to obtain a nuclear weapon, the world will “blame” the United States for having rejected a deal that could have prevented it.
Secretary of State John Kerry delivers a speech on the nuclear agreement with Iran at the National Constitution Center, Sept. 2, 2015 in Philadelphia. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) announced her support for the deal, becoming the 34th Democratic senator to back the president. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)
“They will not join us if we unilaterally walk away from the deal that the sanctions were designed to bring about,” Kerry said. “They will not join us if we are demanding even greater sacrifices and threatening their businesses and banks because of a choice we made and they opposed. While it may not happen all at once, it is clear that if we reject this plan, the multilateral sanctions regime will start to unravel. The pressure on Iran will lessen. Our negotiating leverage will diminish if not disappear.”
The other nations that were part of the deal with Iran are Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.
“Rejecting this agreement would not be sending a signal of resolve to Iran. It would be broadcasting a message so puzzling, most people across the globe would find it impossible to comprehend,” Kerry added. “Who can fairly blame them for not understanding if we suddenly switch course and reject the very outcome we had worked so hard to obtain?”
"It’s hard to conceive of a quicker or more self-destructive blow to our nation’s credibility and leadership, not only with respect to this one issue, but I’m telling you across the board, economically, politically, militarily and even morally. We would pay an immeasurable price for this unilateral reversal,” Kerry said.
He later said that if the deal fell apart, Iran would have the ability to build nuclear weapons.
"If this plan is voted down, we cannot predict with certainty what Iran will do, but we know what Iran says it will do and that is begin again to expand its nuclear activities," Kerry said. "We know the strict limitations that Iran has accepted will no longer apply because there will no longer be any agreement. Iran will then be free to begin operating thousands of other advanced centrifuges that would otherwise have been mothballed. They will be free to expand their stockpile of low, enriched uranium, rebuild their stock pile of low enriched uranium, rebuild their stock pile by 20 percent enriched uranium, free to move ahead with weapons grade plutonium, free to go forward with weaponization research."
“And just who do you think is going to be held responsible for all of this? Not Iran. Because Iran is preparing to implement the agreement,” Kerry said. “It will have no reason whatsoever to return to the bargaining table. No, the world will hold accountable the people who broke with the consensus, turned their backs on our negotiating partners and ignored the advice of top scientists and military leaders. The world will blame the United States.”
Congress is expected to vote next week on a resolution to kill the nuclear agreement, but Wednesday morning's announcement by Sen. Barbara Milkuski (D-Md.) of her support for the deal means President Barack Obama will be abel to sustain a veto of the bill.
In the course of his speech, Kerry also said that “Israel will be safer,” under the agreement.
Referring to the 1990s agreement that failed to keep North Korea from building a nuclear bomb, Kerry said that agreement was four pages, while the Iran agreement is more than 100 pages. “Lesson learned,” he added.
He also used an analogy to address concerns about the duration of the agreement only lasting 15 years. He said using this to justify killing the entire deal “defies logic.”
"If your house is on fire would you refuse to extinguish it because it might catch on fire in 15 years?"
