Kerry: Iran nuke deal has proved doubters wrong

Speaking in France, John Kerry also says the nuclear deal with Iran has proven itself over the last year.

“As of today, one year later, a program that so many people said will not work, a program that people said is absolutely doomed to see cheating and be broken and will make the world more dangerous, has, in fact, made the world safer, lived up to its expectations, and thus far produced an ability to be able to create a peaceful nuclear program with Iran living up to its part of this bargain and obligation,” says Kerry, one of the main architects of the accord.

The comment could be seen as a veiled rebuff of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was vocal in his opposition to the deal, insisting Iran would cheat and make the world more dangerous.

But Kerry says the deal did the opposite.

“The world is safer today because conflict in the region is not calculated on the basis of the potential of a nuclear confrontation or nuclear explosion, and because we have the ability to be able to work through some issues which we’ve seen, for instance with our sailors who stumbled into Iranian waters and within 24 hours we were able to get them out,” he says. “That could not have happened prior to this agreement having taken place.”

However, he admits there remain differences with Iran.

“Nobody pretends that some of the challenges we have with Iran have somehow been wiped away,” he says. “We need to continue to work and we will continue to work and we have a specially designated ambassador whose day-to-day effort is leading the team to make sure that this deal continues to be lived up to, that we continue to be able to resolve any problems, and that we build on this as an example of what you can do if you marry interests and you marry values in a way that happens to meet the needs of a broader cross-section of countries and people.”