Kerry urges Congress to support Iran nuclear agreement
US Secretary of State John Kerry has urged Republican lawmakers in Congress to support the nuclear accord with Iran, saying that "walking away" would send a problematic message internationally.
During a hearing on Tuesday before the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Kerry, along with Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, vigorously defended the historic agreement.
In tense exchanges in which Kerry was at times visibly exasperated, he challenged GOP lawmakers who are critical of the nuclear deal to find a viable alternative.
"If we walk away, we walk away alone. Our partners are not going to be with us," Kerry said.
"Instead they will walk away from the tough multilateral sanctions that brought Iran to the negotiating table in the first place. And we will have squandered the best chance that we have to solve this problem through peaceful means," he added.
Iran and the P5+1 group -- the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany – reached a conclusion on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on July 14 in the Austrian capital of Vienna following days of intensive talks over Tehran’s nuclear program.
The top US diplomat warned that if Congress decides to reject the accord, Iran will double the pace of its uranium enrichment and will install more efficient centrifuges.
The congressional hearing was the second in as many weeks for Kerry, Moniz and Lew.
The hearing unfolded as the most influential pro-Israel lobby in the US, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, deployed hundreds of its members to pressure lawmakers to disapprove of the agreement.
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