Kerry: Sanctions Alone Were Not Enough to Confront a Nuclear Iran

John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, stated that when Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani revived the negotiations, Iran had become 'a country on the brink of nuclearization,' and that 'sanctions alone were not enough' to confront this situation. According to a report by AFP, Kerry, speaking in Philadelphia on Wednesday in defense of the nuclear agreement with Iran, mentioned that at the time the negotiations resumed, everyone in the U.S. administration was aware that Iran was 'a country on the brink of nuclearization,' and 'more importantly, we had already responded to this situation,' as Iran was under the toughest economic sanctions. However, he noted that the U.S. was clearly faced with the reality that 'not only were sanctions alone insufficient to end the matter, but they were not even close.' The U.S. Secretary of State also added that sanctions had not been successful in slowing or stopping Iran's move towards 'nuclear weapon capability.' Kerry further stated that without this agreement, Iran would have been able to acquire the necessary materials to build a nuclear bomb 'in about two months,' but with this agreement, that timeline has increased to one year, and Iran will remain at this level for a decade or more. In response to Senator Mikulski's support for the nuclear agreement, Kerry said that the vote of 34 senators in support of the nuclear agreement is clearly sufficient for the President to exercise his veto power. Nevertheless, Kerry indicated that the Obama administration is not satisfied with this number and is trying to push further and encourage others to support the agreement. On Wednesday, with the announcement of support from Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski for the Iran nuclear agreement, the number of supporters in the Senate reached a threshold that allows Barack Obama to use his veto against potential congressional opposition to the Iran nuclear agreement. The nuclear agreement is set to be voted on September 17, two weeks from now, and supporters of this agreement in the Senate are now working to increase the number of supporters to 41, so that the implementation of the agreement does not require the President's veto. Among the Democratic senators, currently only two, Chuck Schumer and Bob Menendez, have publicly expressed their opposition to the Iran agreement. In the House of Representatives, supporters need a total of 146 votes, and so far more than 90 Democrats, including a group of senior representatives, have announced their support for the agreement.