Kerry seeks to broaden Iran nuke deal support following minimum congressional votes

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday tried to broaden support for the Iran nuclear agreement after the administration gained a minimum of congressional votes needed to make the deal alive.

During a press conference in Philadelphia, Kerry called the nuclear deal the last chance to stop "Iran's relentless march toward" getting nuclear weapons.

He said the U.S. "had to face an obvious fact: sanctions alone were not getting the job done, not even close," and the sanctions had failed "to slow, let alone halt, Iran's relentless march toward a nuclear weapons capability."

According to Kerry, President Barack Obama brought U.S. allies and world powers together and pushed Tehran into talks and to negotiate "until finally we arrived at the good and effective deal we had sought."

"Without this agreement, Iran's so-called breakout time was about two months. With this agreement it will increase by a factor of six, to at least a year, and will remain at that level for a decade or more."

U.S. lawmakers have until Sept. 17 to vote on the deal with a "resolution of disapproval". Many of the lawmakers, most of them Republicans, criticize that the deal made too many concessions to Iran and can not stop Iran from building nuclear weapons.

Just minutes before Kerry's speech, Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski said she would support the Iran deal, bring the total of Senate votes to 34, enough to uphold any congressional resolution disapproving the deal.

"Rejecting this agreement would not be sending a signal of resolve to Iran, it would be broadcasting a message so puzzling that most people across the globe would find it impossible to comprehend," Kerry argued.

"It's hard to conceive of a quicker or more self-destructive blow to our nation's credibility and leadership -- not only with respect to this one issue, but across the board, economically, politically, militarily, even morally. We would pay an immeasurable price for this unilateral reversal," the secretary added.

Kerry said the Obama administration would ensure that America's Arab allies, including Israel, would have the "political and military support they need" to protect themselves from the threat posed by Iran.

The nuclear agreement with Iran was reached in July after extensive negotiations with the U.S., Britain, France, China, Germany and Russia. Under the deal, Iran agreed to international supervision of its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Endit