Secretary of State John Kerry defended the benefits of the nuclear agreement with Iran Monday, giving Iranian leaders “enormous credit” for their handling of an incident involving U.S. sailors who strayed into Iranian waters last week.
“It is to the enormous credit of the supreme leader … that they understood that this was better resolved rapidly,” Kerry said of Iranian officials during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“None of us appreciated what we saw in the video,” Kerry added, referring to a clip of the American sailors being forced to kneel and apologize for their error. “It infuriated me as a former sailor.”
Kerry defended the Iranian nuclear deal from criticism that it doesn’t do enough to reign in Iran, a frequent attack on an agreement many see as insufficient to keep Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
“This agreement was not calculated to solve all the problems with Iran,” Kerry said, adding the country’s recent actions in the region have been “disquieting.”
Kerry’s comments came on the heels of Iran’s release of five Americans that had been held in captivity, a move some have argued was always a secret part of the nuclear deal inked last year after months of negotiations.
