Kerry predicts ’90 percent’ will support Iran deal

Secretary of State John Kerry predicted on Thursday that nine in 10 Americans would back President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran once it has been in place for a year or more. 

{mosads}“The fact is, a lot of polls show that the country actually supports it, and that’s a fairly even divide,” Kerry said of enthusiasm for the agreement now, according to The Huffington Post. “I think that’s pretty good, considering the amount of money that’s spent with myths being promulgated.”

“If Iran destroys its Arak plutonium reactor core, filing it with cement, and it exists no longer, and Arak dismantles two-thirds of their centrifuges and is no longer enriching, and it lowers its stockpile to 300 kilograms, and it is only enriching to 3.67 percent and it has done everything it would do to live up to the agreement,” Kerry said, “[then] if a new president came in and said, ‘Oh, I’m going to [end the deal],’ that would be absurd.

“The country will be 90 percent supportive by that point in time, because they will see that it is in fact working, and it has eliminated the threat of a nuclear weapon in the Middle East,” he added.

Kerry also argued on Thursday that he is skeptical of 2016 presidential candidates who claim they would void Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran should they get elected next year.

“I cannot see a president willfully taking the United Nations [and] five other nations who supported us in this negotiation and saying, ‘Sorry, we’re just going to walk away from this and create a more dangerous situation in the Middle East,’” he said. “I just don’t see that happening.”

Kerry additionally admitted on Thursday that he dislikes the lobbying by wealthy special interests against the Iran pact.

“There has been a huge bombardment of distortions, and outright, you know, just untruths, is the word I’ll use, about what this deal does and how it does it,” he said, adding that “enormous money” has been spent against its implementation.

The Obama administration announced it had reached its landmark diplomatic bargain with Tehran in July.

It eases economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for greater restrictions on its atomic energy capabilities going forward.

Obama secured enough Congressional support earlier this week for keeping the deal alive despite fierce opposition to what it entails.

Congress is voting on Sept. 17 for a resolution either approving or disproving the historic international agreement.