Washington: The US cannot persuade countries like India and China to join the Iranian sanctions regime again, Secretary of State John Kerry today said as he warned the Congress against rejecting the nuclear deal with Iran.
“We persuaded China, don’t buy more oil. We persuaded India and other countries to step back,” Kerry said.
“Can you imagine trying to sanction them after persuading them to bring around to the negotiating table, and when they have not only come to the table but they made a deal, we turn around and nix the deal, and then tell them you’re going to have to obey our rules on the sanctions anyway,” he said at an event in New York.
“That is a recipe, very quickly, my friends, businesspeople here, for the American dollar to cease to be the reserve currency of the world, which is already bubbling out there, and if the United States were to behave that way, not only would we have lost them with respect to the sanctions, but we will lose their support if we have to use military action,” he said.
The US and its allies, he said, is safer with this deal than without it.
“Because if you don’t do this deal folks, not only will we have walked away from our allies Britain, France, Germany, and non-allies, but interested parties — Russia, China,” he said.
As part of the deal reached last month, international sanctions against Iran will be lifted in exchange for a 10-year commitment from the country to freeze its nuclear programme and allow for inspections of its nuclear facilities.