John Kerry urges patience amid report of nukes deal: ‘Iran will not get a nuclear weapon’

Secretary of State John F. Kerry pushed back Tuesday against critics of the Obama administration’s pursuit of a nuclear deal with Iran, asserting that U.S. negotiators are working from a simple policy point that “Iran will not get a nuclear weapon.”

“I caution people to wait and see what these negotiations produce,” Mr. Kerry said, countering news reports that have suggested the administration is close to accepting a deal in which Iran would be allowed to ramp up its nuclear activities over time after a 10-year initial period of restrictions and inspection from outside powers.

Mr. Kerry implied that such deal may still be far from finalized, but asserted that the goal remains to reach some kind of deal to avoid a military confrontation with Iran.

“Since 2013, we have been testing whether we can achieve that goal diplomatically,” he said. “I don’t know yet.”

The secretary of state made the remarks at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday, during which he submitted a budget request of $50.3 billion to fund the State Department and USAID through 2016 — an increase of roughly $4 billion from what was requested to fund both a year ago.

The bulk of the money would go toward sustaining current operations of some 70,000-plus State and USAID employees and the roughly 285 U.S. diplomatic posts around the world.

A key difference from last year’s budget is that the current proposal includes a $3.5 billion line item for efforts by the State Department — separate from those of the Pentagon — to counter the Islamic State movement that has grown over the past year in Syria and Iraq.

“America must lead, but we cannot do so on the cheap,” Mr. Kerry told lawmakers at the start of the hearing of the Committee’s State, Foreign Operations Subcommittee.

Early in the hearing, Sen. Lindsay Graham, South Carolina Republican and the subcommittee’s chairman, pressed Mr. Kerry for a succinct explanation of the Obama administration’s foreign policy doctrine.

“The foreign policy doctrine of the United States is to be engaged and to lead across the world in a way that advances America’s values and protects our security,” said Mr. Kerry. “It is working in many places and is troubled in some.”