John Kerry

We continue to insist that Iran release Saeed Abedini, Amir Hekmati, and Jason Rezaian from detention so they can come home to their families.

As part of the JPOA we also committed, within the bounds of our system, not to impose new nuclear-related sanctions while the JPOA is in effect.

Sanctions did not stop the advance of Iran's nuclear program. Negotiations did, and it is in our interest not to deny ourselves the chance to achieve a long-term, comprehensive solution that would prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear…

Should Iran refuse a reasonable deal or cheat on its current commitments under the JPOA, the Senate and House could impose additional measures in a matter of hours.

Today, as the result of the constraints in the JPOA, Iran has halted progress on its nuclear program and it has rolled it back in key areas for the first time in a decade.

Our goal is to conclude the major elements of the deal by the end of March and then to complete the technical details by June.

If they lose that conviction, the United States, not Iran, would be isolated, the sanctions regime would collapse.

Even if Iran does not walk away or promptly returns to the table, its negotiators are likely to adopt more extreme positions in response.

Overall, however, we assess that we still have a credible chance of reaching a deal that is in the best interest of America's security, as well as the security of our allies.

If our international partners believe that the United States has acted prematurely by adding new sanctions now in the absence of a provocation or a violation by Iran, their willingness to enforce the existing sanctions regime or to add to…

If we thought it was necessary or indeed helpful to have it, to have these additional sanctions during the pendency of the negotiations, we would be the first to welcome it.

The moment they doubt that and lose faith in that, then the economic incentives many of them have not to abide by the sanctions regime may start to gain greater force.

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.

We are way behind the clock here in terms of engaging.

We did not have a parallel track that many of us were advocating for to think about if you get this agreement.

I do not send America's sons and daughters needlessly into a war of choice versus a war of necessity.

It is aimed at making sure Iran never ever becomes a nuclear weapons state, which is our objective.

Congress needs to focus on a rigorous oversight and enforcement of the JCPOA.

But we must remember at the end of the day Iran is still an anti-American, anti-Semitic, revolutionary regime cultivating a network of proxies to challenge stable governments in the region and protect dictators such as Assad in Syria.

Implementation day is here. The nuclear agreement is reality, and I think we all need to now acknowledge how we proceed with the nuclear agreement being implemented.

Implementing Council resolutions is the sine qua non of a credible, enforceable nuclear deal.

This Council cannot allow Iran to feel that it can violate our resolutions with impunity.

We don't ask permission from anyone.

Secretary Kerry repeatedly raises the plate of Mr. Rezaian and the other detainees in Iran.

I think a lot of what is going on Iran is a non-monolithic dispute within that political society about this deal.