Washington, 23 Jul (EFE).- U.S. Secretary of State,
John Kerry, along with Treasury Secretary
Jack Lew and Energy Secretary will testify at the Senate Thursday, following Republican accusations against the nuclear pact with Iran.
Kerry said he looked forward to answering all questions and along with Lew and Moniz, met members of the Senate and House of the Representatives in a closed-door meeting Wednesday.
“We are convinced the agreement we have arrived at with the world powers is an agreement that will prevent Iran from the potential of securing a nuclear weapon, it will make the region, our friends and allies safer,” Kerry said during his visit to the Capitol.
“It’ll make the world safer, and we are convinced that the absence of any viable alternative absolutely underscores that fact.”
Meanwhile, Republican Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell warned, the secretaries will have to face some difficult questions on Thursday before the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
“Is this deal really about keeping America, the region, and the world safer, or is it simply a compendium of whatever Iran will allow – an agreement struck to temporarily take a difficult strategic threat off the table, but one that might actually empower the Iranian regime and make war more likely?” the Republican asked fiercely, opposing the pact.
In a statement, McConnell said all the Senators had planned to meet and study the agreement in-depth to prepare for the first hearing on the pact between the G5 + 1 and Iran.
Meanwhile, Republican congressmen –
Mike Pompeo (Kansas) and
Tom Cotton (Arkansas) – Wednesday sent a private letter to Kerry, asking to disclose two documents on the nuclear pact, which according to them have been kept “secret” and not revealed in Congress.
They claimed, in a meeting held recently with the International Atomic Energy Agency, they discovered parts of the agreement “will remain secret and will not be shared with other nations, with Congress, or with the public.”
Obama’s National Security Advisor,
Susan Rice, said during a daily White House press briefing “these documents are not public. But nonetheless, we have been briefed on those documents. We know their contents. We are satisfied with them and we will share the contents of those briefings in full and classified session with the Congress. So there is nothing that we know, that they won’t know.”
Thursday’s hearing at the Senate Committee and the one on July 28 before the House of Representatives is included within the 60 day period that Congress has for reviewing the Iranian agreement. EFE
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