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Kerry: 'We Drove a Very Hard Bargain' With Iran
Tuesday, November 26, 2013 07:01 PM
By: Amy Woods
The hard-fought agreement reached Sunday on Iran's nuclear program marks the first in almost a decade that puts "meaningful limits" on the country's development of a weapon of mass destruction, Secretary of State John Kerry said.
Kerry appeared in a short video explaining he "drove a very hard bargain" with Iranian negotiators to effectively set back their nuclear ambitions, The Hill reports.
"We drove a very hard bargain to achieve what we needed to in terms of our verification and certainty about where they're going," Kerry said. “We drove a hard bargain because we have one unwavering purpose in our goal: President Obama has been absolutely clear that Iran cannot and will not acquire a nuclear weapon
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"Today, thanks to this effort we took an important first step toward guaranteeing that that never happens," Kerry continued. "And I think we did it in the most effective way – we did it through diplomacy."
In the video, Kerry addressed concerns in Congress about the economic sanctions on Iran, which many leaders want to increase. He said Iran will receive $4.2 billion in repatriated oil revenue and will be allowed exports totaling $2.5 billion. The $6.7 billion in relief is "limited and reversible."
"We all know that if the agreement falls apart, Iran is going to quickly face even tougher sanctions," he said.