AP � Former Secretary of State John Kerry says both Israel and Egypt pushed the United States to �bomb Iran� before the 2015 nuclear deal was struck.

Kerry is defending the deal during a forum in Washington. He says kings and foreign presidents told the U.S. that bombing was the only language Iran would understand. But Kerry says that was �a trap� in many ways because the same countries would have publicly criticized the U.S. if it bombed.

Kerry says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was �genuinely agitating toward action.�

Kerry says he doesn�t know whether Iran will resume pursuing a nuclear weapon in 10 to 15 years after restrictions in the deal sunset. But he says it was the best deal the U.S. could get.