That is a tremendous power.

I regret that I did not live up to the standard I set during that hearing and in the remarks that you just quoted.

The passage of new sanctions could provoke Iran to walk away from the negotiating table, violate the JPOA and start moving its nuclear program forward again.

I think it does share that concern, which I think explains largely why it has been, at least again until now, a constructive partner in the efforts to make sure we put in place something that denies, as a practical matter, Iran the ability…

I think sometimes we have a tendency to look at Iran as if it is the one country in the world that does not have politics.

I think the JPOA has proved itself through the results it has achieved over the course of the agreement.

Mr. Blinken. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Menendez, thank you very much for having us here today.

Because of the scope and intensity of the sanctions Iran currently is subject to, and because of the economic pressure those sanctions continue to apply, we believe that new sanctions are not needed at this time.

Any agreement that we reach... would have to have more stringent requirements still in terms of monitoring, in terms of access, in terms of transparency all along the production line.

Prime Minister Netanyahu came before the United Nations a couple years ago, and he held up that drawing of a bomb and there was a line, and it was getting close to filling up the bomb.

To be sure, difficult challenges lie ahead, and critical differences between Iran and the international community must be addressed.

In our efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, sanctions were never an end in themselves.