John Kerry warned that Congress' possible decision to veto the Iran nuclear agreement may backfire and result in Tehran's development of weapons.



WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — If the US Congress rejects the Iran nuclear agreement forged in Vienna by international negotiators, Tehran will embark on obtaining a nuclear weapon, US State Secretary John Kerry warned members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday.
"If the US Congress moves to unilaterally reject what was agreed to in Vienna, the result will be the United States of America walking away from every one of the restrictions that we have achieved.”


The US state secretary continued it would grant Tehran the “green light” to “double the pace of its uranium enrichment, proceed full speed ahead with a heavy water reactor, install new and more efficient centrifuges.”


Additionally, if the nuclear deal is vetoed by Congress, Iran would begin ramping up its nuclear program “all without the unprecedented inspections and transparency measures that we have secured,” Kerry warned.

On July 14, Iran and the P5+1 group comprising the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom plus Germany, reached an agreement to ensure the peaceful nature of Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Kerry also said walking away from the Tehran deal would leave the United States alone, and result in the five other negotiators walking away “from the tough multilateral sanctions regime that they’ve helped to put in place, and we will have squandered the best chance we have had to fix this problem through peaceful means.”


Kerry’s remarks come after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing the nuclear agreement to relieve Iran of sanctions and ensure the peaceful nature of Tehran’s nuclear program. The UN will keep in place, however, an arms embargo against Iran and a ban on ballistic missile technology.

Meanwhile, Congress now has less than 60 days to fully review the nuclear agreement, during which time President Barack Obama cannot waive or suspend congressional sanctions against Iran that are currently in place.

By Sputnik