Obama to McCain: Leave Kerry alone over Iran
US President Barack Obama has warned hawkish Republicans, including Sen. John McCain, to leave Secretary of State John Kerry alone with regard to nuclear negotiations with Iran.
Iran and the P5+1 group – the US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany – along with officials from the European Union reached a mutual understanding on Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Lausanne on April 2.
The two sides will now start drafting a final accord, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which is expected to come by the end of June.
During a press conference in Panama City, Panama, on Saturday, Obama praised Kerry’s efforts in achieving the understanding, blasting Sen. McCain of Arizona for his recent comments that put into question how forthcoming Kerry has been about the framework agreement.
In a Thursday interview, McCain said “John Kerry is delusional” about the deal, adding, “I think you’re going to find out that they had never agreed to the things that John Kerry claimed that they had.”
He said Kerry “tried to come back and sell a bill of goods, hoping maybe that the Iranians wouldn’t say much about it.”
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Thursday that it is the very specifics of the nuclear negotiations that would determine the fate of the talks.
“What has been done so far neither guarantees [the clinching of] an agreement itself and its contents, nor ensures that the negotiations would proceed to the end,” the Leader highlighted.
Obama also said when Republicans suggest that Kerry is “somehow less trustworthy,” it indicates “the degree to which partisanship has crossed all boundaries, and we’re seeing this again and again.”
Republicans think “our Secretary of State is purposefully misinterpreting the deal,” the US president said, complaining that “that’s not how we’re supposed to run foreign policy, regardless of who’s president or Secretary of State. We can have arguments, and there are legitimate arguments to be had.”
AT/HRJ
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