Dawn.com, Washington :
US Secretary of State John Kerry told American lawmakers on Thursday that the deal he and other world leaders signed with Iran in Vienna last week, was the “only viable option” to peacefully resolve the nuclear dispute with Tehran.
At the first congressional hearing on the deal, Secretary Kerry launched an effective counter-attack against those Republican leaders who are urging Congress to reject the deal.
If Congress votes against the deal, “the United States of America (will be) walking away from every one of the restrictions we have achieved,” he told the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee. “We will have squandered the best chance we have to solve this problem through peaceful means.”
On Monday, Congress began a 60-day review of the deal to decide whether to support or reject it. A no-vote would give Iran “a great big green light” to swiftly accelerate its atomic programme, Secretary Kerry warned the senators.
The process that led to an agreement between Iran and six world powers – the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany – began in 2006.
As part of the deal, Iran has agreed to rein in its nuclear activity and accept a mechanism for international inspections, in return for the lifting of international sanctions.
Mr Kerry told the Senate committee that the United States came to the negotiating table with one clear objective – to address the issue of nuclear weapons.
“We set out to dismantle [Iran’s] ability to build a nuclear weapon and we achieved that,” he said.
Mr Kerry argued that it was pointless to insist on dismantling Iran’s whole nuclear programme, as it already had experience in nuclear technology and enough fissile material to build 10-12 nuclear bombs.
“The choice we face is between an agreement that will ensure Iran’s nuclear programme is limited, rigorously scrutinized and wholly peaceful – or no deal at all.”
AP reports adds: The latest in a hearing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is conducting on the agreement the United States and five other world powers struck this month with Iran to rein in its nuclear weapons program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions (asterisk)(all times local):
The White House says lawmakers who want to know about agreements between Iran and international nuclear inspectors will get a chance to learn about them in classified briefings.
Press secretary Josh Earnest rejects characterizations of the agreements between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency as “some sort of side deal.” Earnest says they are all a critical part of the agreement with Iran worked out by the U.S. and five other world powers.
