Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday that the agreement reached with Iran on Saturday to halt its nuclear program will hold the country accountable and does not give Iran the right to enrich uranium.
Kerry said on ABC’s “This Week” that the deal is “verifiable and clear in its capacity to be able to make Israel and the region safer,” adding that there will be daily inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Kerry insisted that Iran will need to prove itself in order to have a nuclear program of any kind.
“There is no right to enrich. We do not recognize a right to enrich,” he said. “And everywhere in this particular agreement, it states that they could only do that by mutual agreement and that nothing is agreed on until everything is agreed on.”
Kerry defended the adminstration’s decision to make a preliminary deal with Iran without strengthening sanctions against the country.
“Now, the choice people have is: do you want to sit there and argue that you have to dismantle your program before you stopped it, and while you’re arguing about this dismantling it, they progress?” he said. “You cannot sit there and pretend that you’re just going to get the thing you want while they continue to move towards the program that they have been chasing.”
Kerry assured that if Iran does not live up to its end of the deal, the U.S. will strengthen sanctions.
“And if they’re not prepared to do the things necessary to be able to have a peaceful program, truly peaceful and provable as such, then the sanctions can be turned back up,” he said.
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