Since announcing a nuclear agreement with P5+1 powers two weeks ago, U.S. Secretary of State and top Iranian negotiator John Kerry has defended the Iranian regime and warned that actions taken against the agreement could give the Islamic republic a reason to pursue nuclear weapons.
Kerry said that Iran would walk away from the table if foreign powers scuttled the agreement.
"If the United States unilaterally and arbitrarily kills this, you’re not going to have another negotiation," Kerry told a Western interviewer on CNN.
"If you think the Ayatollah is going to come back and negotiate with an American, that’s fantasy," Kerry said.
Kerry also issued warnings to interlopers like the Israeli government, saying that attempts to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program would have "grave consequences."
"I think that would be an enormous mistake, a huge mistake with grave consequences," Kerry said.
"And if you did that, what would Iran’s response be?" Kerry asked. "Most likely to decide–now you’ve proven why we need a bomb."
Kerry contrasted these untrustworthy critics with Iran, which he said has lived up to its end of the bargain.
"The fact is that Iran has lived up to every component of that [the interim agreement] over the course of the last years," Kerry said.
He assured a Western audience that Iran was led by political moderates eager to engage peacefully with the developed world.
"He [President Hassan Rouhani] is somebody who believes in looking outwards and presenting a different Iran," Kerry explained. "So does Foreign Minister Zarif,who has lived here in New York and was for many years involved in the United Nations. Many of you have probably met him and know him."