SECRETARY KERRY: Today’s announcement gives us even more hope, more confidence in the
possibilities about this effort going forward.
Thus far, Iran has taken every step that it committed to take, dating back two full years
– not just back to July, but dating back to the interim agreement that we announced
in Geneva, in Switzerland.
And we have now two years of compliance already under our belt with another 13, and then another
15, and then another 20, and another 25, and then the lifetime of this agreement under
the Additional Protocol and the Modified Code 3.1.
Now, obviously past performance does not guarantee future results.
We know that.
Furthermore, while we welcome implementation day, we understand that this marker alone
does not wipe away all of the concerns that the international community has rightly expressed
about Iran’s policies and actions and choices in the region.
But we also know without doubt there is not a challenge in the entire region that wouldn’t
become much more complicated, much worse, if Iran had a nuclear weapon.
And that is why this agreement is so important.
With the agreement fully implemented, the international community can finally work to
address the other regional challenges without the looming threat of a nuclear-armed Iran
– including the crisis in Syria, on which we have made important progress in recent
months.
Before I close, I want to thank a few important people who brought us here to this day, who
have been critical to this process throughout the negotiations.
And that starts with the person I work for, President Obama, who has been resolute in
insisting that Iran must never have a nuclear weapon, and equally strong and courageous
in asserting that diplomacy should be given a fair chance to achieve that goal.
His courage to pursue a path that many people deemed impossible and some people deemed inadvisable
is the reason we are where we are, marking implementation day – not alone, not bilaterally,
but with France, Germany, Britain, China, Russia, all of us joined together in an effort
to create this accountability.
I also want to thank the delegations representing all of our P5 partners.
All of them have worked unbelievably hard and have set a standard for international
cooperation, and I particularly want to thank Dame Cathy Ashton for helping to lead this
process for two and a half years, and her successor, Federica Mogherini, for expertly
coordinating international efforts during the final stage and helping in these last
two days to bring us to this announcement.
I also want to express my gratitude for the superb efforts of my own delegation, led by
Steve Mull and previously by Wendy Sherman, all of whom from the State Department, from
the White House, and throughout the interagency system that we work with in the United States,
all of them – the Justice Department, the Energy Department, Ernie Moniz and others
have done an extraordinary job and they richly deserve the gratitude of our nation, and I
believe other nations who benefit from this.
Let me also thank the government of Austria, Switzerland, and Oman for their continued
and enormously generous hospitality at times, for their assistance all the time, and for
the international work that they have helped to make possible here.
And I’m particularly grateful to the Government of Switzerland, to Didier Burkhalter and all
those who have worked in the last days as our representative in Tehran in helping us
with the mission regarding the release of the Americans, which you will hear more about
from President Obama later.
Finally, I want to again express my deep respect for the serious and constructive approach
that Iran’s delegation brought to this effort.
Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and his team from day one demonstrated their deep commitment
and seriousness of purpose, and Dr. Ali Salehi has worked diligently with Secretary Moniz
to find creative solutions to difficult technical challenges.
And we’ve been able to approach every step of this process with professionalism and mutual
respect.
The hard work will continue, no question.
And the tough politics surrounding this issue in many countries, including the United States
and Iran – that’s obviously not going to get easier overnight.
But the fact is that today marks the first day of a safer world, one where we believe
it is possible to remain safer for years to come, and particularly with the compliance
of this agreement.
I think we have also proven once again why diplomacy has to always be our first choice,
and war our last resort.
And that is a very important lesson to reinforce.
We have approached this challenge that the – with the firm belief that exhausting diplomacy
before choosing war is an imperative.
And we believe that today marks the benefits of that choice.
Thank you.
(Applause.)