Hillary Clinton Expresses Hope for Outcome of Nuclear Negotiations

Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic candidate for the 2016 U.S. presidential election, has expressed hope that the nuclear negotiations between Iran and six world powers will yield results in the coming days. Clinton, who served as Secretary of State during Barack Obama's first term, spoke on July 4 during a campaign event at Dartmouth College in Hanover. She stated, "I too hope that we will succeed in reaching an agreement next week that puts constraints on Iran's nuclear military program." Tehran has always emphasized that its nuclear program is aimed solely at peaceful purposes. The leading Democratic candidate for next year's presidential election also added that even if an agreement is reached, there will still be much work to do. She mentioned that there remain many issues with Tehran regarding what she described as "support for terrorism," regional control, the use of proxy forces, or threats to Israel's existence. Reuters reports that Clinton had not recently commented on the nuclear negotiations during her campaign. In April (three months ago), before the start of her campaign, she had said, "The remaining path to reach a nuclear agreement in June will not be easy, but it is certainly vital." She had previously emphasized that failing to reach an agreement is better than reaching a bad agreement. Republican rivals for the presidential election are largely opponents of the negotiations and have expressed their strong opposition in some cases. For instance, Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida and a Republican candidate for the 2016 election, has recently criticized the Obama administration's nuclear talks with Iranian officials. The U.S. Congress, which has a Republican majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, will oversee the potential final agreement. Additionally, the portion of sanctions against Iran that has been approved by Congress is also under the control of its representatives.