Secretary of State John Kerry insisted Tuesday that Iran deserves to have sanctions lifted under the Iran nuclear agreement because it has so far lived up to its obligations under that deal.
The Obama administration has come under fire for looking for ways to give Iran access to dollar-denominated transactions, and when pressed about it on “Morning Joe” Tuesday, Kerry acknowledged that the administration is “working very hard to do what is fair” to Iran.
Kerry was asked whether Iran has demonstrated that it deserves that kind of fair treatment, to which Kerry replied, “They have. In terms of the nuclear agreement, absolutely.”
“Iran deserves the benefits of the agreement they struck, and President Obama has said it, I’ve said, Secretary [Jack] Lew has said it,” Kerry said.
“And we’ve, in fact, tried to work and make sure that the banks that are supposed to be doing legitimate business with respect to the transactions that are okay after the agreement, that they’re operating,” he added. “It’s fair for Iran to get what it deserves because it has kept its part of the bargain to date with respect to the nuclear agreement.”
Kerry also dismissed the idea that easing financial sanctions against Iran would send the wrong signal to governments and companies around the world.
“If we said we would lift a sanction, we’re under an obligation to lift a sanction, and to make sure that in fact, people are performing the way they are supposed to be,” he said.
Republican opponents of the Iran deal say that while Iran may be living up to the nuclear agreement, Iran has also been running ballistic missile tests, which goes against a United Nations Security Council resolution. The GOP has also charged that the Obama administration has been slow to push for sanctions against Iran for these tests, possibly to avoid a conflict that threatens implementation of the nuclear agreement.
The State Department said initially that Iran’s ballistic missile tests would violate the U.N. resolution, but then walked that back to say the tests appear to be “inconsistent” with the U.N., a shift has made Republicans even more worried that the U.S. may not push for sanctions against Iran.
State indicated Monday that the Obama administration is looking at ways to allow Iran to conduct dollar-based transactions through non-U.S. banks. State spokesman Mark Toner indicated that the government may be looking to issue some kind of announcement saying the U.S. will not seek to punish foreign banks that engage in these transactions.
Toner indicated that this step would fall short of giving Iran access to U.S. financial markets, but would still help Iran’s economic growth.
Kerry also repeated his claim that Iran is now less of a global threat because of the agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear program.
“It’s not as dangerous as ever because it will not have a nuclear weapon,” he said. “So it cannot by definition be as dangerous as ever.”
“And it’s not just for the short term,” Kerry added, describing some of the longer-term provision’s of the deal.
When asked if the Iran will stick to key terms of the deal for years going forward, Kerry dodged, and said at least the U.S. would know what Iran is doing.
“I have faith and confidence that we will know exactly what they are doing during that period of time,” Kerry said. “And if they decide to try and cheat, we will know it and there are plenty of options available to us.”
