CNN- The top US diplomat when the Iran nuclear deal was negotiated took to Twitter Tuesday to defend the agreement, as President Donald Trump suggests the United States might withdraw from the pact.
In a series of tweets, former Secretary of State John Kerry also sought to counter remarks made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday in which he revealed evidence of Iranian officials "brazenly lying" about their nuclear ambitions in the lead up to the deal.
"Every detail PM Netanyahu presented yesterday was every reason the world came together to apply years of sanctions and negotiate the Iran nuclear agreement - because the threat was real and had to be stopped. It's working!" Kerry wrote Tuesday.
John Kerry
?@JohnKerry
Every detail PM Netanyahu presented yesterday was every reason the world came together to apply years of sanctions and negotiate the Iran nuclear agreement - because the threat was real and had to be stopped. It's working! That’s why Israeli security experts are speaking out. 1/4
11:02 PM - May 1, 2018
"That's why Israeli security experts are speaking out," said Kerry, referring to an open letter signed by former Israeli officials and published by the liberal-leaning advocacy group J Street as evidence of Israeli security experts speaking out.
He went on to warn that any effort to "blow up the deal" could cost the international community visibility into Iran's nuclear program.
While Kerry's dogged efforts in 2014 and 2015 were integral during the marathon negotiations that produced the Iran nuclear deal -- also referred to as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actionor JCPOA -- he has been noticeably absent from the public debate since Trump took office. He has spent much of the past year working on his memoir, "Every Day is Extra," which he announced in a separate tweet on Tuesday will be released in September.
Earlier on Tuesday, another former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, told "CBS This Morning" it wouldn't be "the end of the world" if the administration pulls out of the deal.
Speaking to reporters from NATO headquarters on Friday, the current Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said Trump was unlikely to keep the US in the JCPOA when it comes up for recertification later this month.
"The President has been clear -- absent a substantial fix, absent overcoming the shortcomings, the flaws of the deal -- he is unlikely to stay in that deal past this May," Pompeo said.