NBC's Meet the Press host David Gregory asked Secretary of State John Kerry Sunday if he felt he was being "skeptical enough" with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani during nuclear negotiations, referring to his reputation as a "wolf in sheep's clothing."
Kerry replied that the expertise of those involved in negotiations did not make that an issue.
"We are not blind, and I don't think we're stupid," he said. "I think we have a pretty strong sense of how to measure whether or not we are acting in the interests of our country and of the globe, and particularly of our allies, like Israel and Gulf states and others in the region."
Iran's lead negotiator said last week the Islamic nation would not accept a deal that disallowed its right to enrich uranium. No deal was reached in the end over potential relieved sanctions, with the French arguing the deal would be too weak.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, Rouhani was on the special Iranian government committee that plotted the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. Middle East experts have declared the "moderate" label bestowed on him by many outlets to be wishful thinking, with much of that owing to his infamous record of deceiving the West in nuclear negotiations to buy Iranian scientists more time to resolve uranium issues.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in July, told Face the Nation that Rouhani's strategy was to "smile and build a bomb."
Full exchange:
DAVID GREGORY: As America's chief diplomat, are you being skeptical enough about a man who has been called a wolf in sheep's clothing, who wrote a book in which he talked about how they can continue work on their nuclear program while they gain confidence of the West, basically played games with the West? Are you being skeptical enough?
JOHN KERRY: David, some of the most serious and capable expert people in our government, who spent a lifetime dealing both with Iran as well as with nuclear weapons and nuclear armament and proliferation are engaged in our negotiation. We are not blind, and I don't think we're stupid. I think we have a pretty strong sense of how to measure whether or not we are acting in the interests of our country and of the globe, and particularly of our allies, like Israel and Gulf states and others in the region. We are absolutely determined that this would be a good deal, or there'll be no deal. Now, that's why it's hard. That's why we didn't close the deal here in the last couple of days, because we are together, unified, pushing for things that we believe provide the guarantees that Israel and the rest of the world demand here. But one thing is clear, is that, you know, we're not going into a full deal and giving away something. We're talking about stopping their program where it is with enough guarantees to know that it is, in fact, stopped where it is while we then negotiate the full measure of the deal with our allies, with our friends, with all of the interested parties, advising at the table, consulting, and their interests well represented.