people of the african continent and kenya are truly proud to welcome all of you. the to this the world's most diverse continent and indeed the cradle of man kind. to all of you and on behalf of all kenyans, welcome home or as we say caribu mongani. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, we have built mighty civilizations in africa. but at the same time, we have also suffered great harm on account sometimes of natural disasters. and at others, due to man made calamities. however, despite that, we still

rise, fired by our spirit of resilience and our undying hope for a better tomorrow. after almost two years of intensive talks, the facts are crystal clear, that the plan announced last week in vienna is in fact a deal that does shut off those pathways, and provides guarantees through the lifetime of the mpt and the participation of iran that we will know what they are doing. now the chairman mentioned in his opening comments some praise about unless we give iran what they want. folks, they already have what they want. they got it ten years ago or more. they already have concurred the fuel cycle. when we began our negotiations, iran had enough material for 10

to 12 bombs. they had 19,000 centrifuges, up from the 163 that they had back in 2003 when the prior administration was engaged with them on this very topic. so this isn't a question of giving them what they want. it's a question of how do you hold their program back in how do you dismantle their weapons program. not their whole program. let's understand what was really on the table here. we set out to dismantle their ability to be able to build a nuclear weapon, and we have achieved that. nobody has ever talked about actually dismantling their entire program, because when that was being talked about, that was when they went from 163 centrifuges to 19,000. everybody here knows what the options are for stopping that. it's called military action.

because they are not going to stop it otherwise. they have already proven that. they proved it through all of those years. so under this agreement, iran has agreed to remove 98% of its stockpile, destroy 98% of their stockpile o enriched uranium,dy install two-thirds of their centrifuges, and fill a reactor with concrete. iran has agreed to refrain from purcha purchasingweapons grade mru tone numb for at least 15 years. and if they begin to do that, we will know it immediately. iran has always agreed to accept the additional protocol which is an outgrowth of the failure of

the north korea experience, which put in additional access requirements precisely so we do know what iran is doing, and they have to ratify it before the u.n. sanctions are lifted at the end of this process. they have to have passed it. they have agreed to live by it from day one. they are going to live by the additional protocol. in addition, there are in additional transparency measures we can go into in the course of this hearing. if iran fails to comply, we will know it, and we will know it quickly, and we will be able to respond accordingly, by reinstituting sanctions all the way up to the most draconian options that we have today, none of them are off the table at any point in time. so many of the measures that are in this agreement are therefore not just for ten years, not just

for 15 years, not just for 20 years, not just for 25 years, of which there are measures for each of those periods of time, but they are for life, forever, as long as iran is within the npt. by the way, north korea pulled out of the npt, iran has not pulled out of the npt. remember that two years ago when our negotiation began, we faced an iran that was enriching uranium up to 20% at a facility that was secret and buried underground, and they were rapidly stockpiling enriched uranium, they were building a heavy reactor, that could produce one to two bombs a year, and experts assessed that the breakout time as a result, the integral required to produce one nuclear weapon was about two to three months.

if this deal is rejected, we return immediately to this reality. accept that the diplomatic support that we have built with all of these other countries, that we have accumulated would disappear overnight. let me underscore, the alternative to the deal that we have reached is not what i have seen some ads on tv suggesting, it isn't a, quote, better deal? some sort of unicorn arrangement, involving iran's complete capitulation. that is a fantasy, plain and simple, and our own intelligence community will tell you that. every single department of our intelligence community will reinforce that. the choice we face is ensuring that iran's program is limited, rigorously scrutinized, and

wholly peaceful, or no deal at all. that's the choice. the fact is there are 189 nations that live by the npt. five of them are as we know the main nuclear powers of the u.n., and 184 of them are non-nuclear in power, but they live by it, and we have lived by what the iaea does with respect to ensuring what all of those 184 nations with doing, including 12 that enrich. now if the u.s. congress moves to unilaterally reject what was agreed to in vienna, the result will be the united states of america walking away from every one of the restrictions that we have achieved, and a great big green light for iran to double the pace of its enrichment, proceed full speed ahead with a heavy reactor, install more

centrifuges and do it all without the transparency measures that we have secured. everything that we have prevented will then start taking place, and all of the voluntary rollbacks of their program will be undone. moreover if the u.s. after lab borously negotiating this agreement were to walk away from our partners, we're on our own. our partners will not walk away with us. instead they will walk away from the tough multi-lateral sanctions regime that they have put in place, and we have squandered the best chance we have to solve this problem through peaceful means. president obama has meat it crystal clear that we will never accept a nuclear weapons iran. he is the only president who has developed a weapon to deploy that.

and iran now has -- we all don't like it, but whether we like it or not, iran has developed experience with a nuclear fuel cycle. they have developed the ability to produce the material for a bomb. and we can't bomb that knowledge away. nor can we sanction the knowledge away. remember, sanctions did not stop iran's nuclear program from growing steadily to the point that it had accumulated enough material to produce those ten nuclear weapons. by the way they didn't choose to produce them, unlike north korea that created a nuclear weapon and exploded one, and pulled out of the npt, iran has done none of that. the truth is the vienna plan will provide a stronger, more comprehensive, more lasting means of limiting iran's nuclear program than any alternative

that has been spoken of. and to those who are thinking about opposing the deal because of what might happen in year 15, 16, or 20, remember, if we walk away, year 15, or 16, or 20 starts tomorrow. and without any of the long-term verification or transparency safeguards that we have put in place. over the past week i have spoken at length about what exactly this deal is. i also want to make clear what this deal was never intended to be. first of all as the chief negotiator, i can tell you i never uttered the words anywhere, any time, nor was it ever part of the discussion that we had with the iranians. this plan was designed to address the nuclear issue. the nuclear issue alone. because we knew that if we got caught up with all of the other issues we would never get where

we needed to stop a nuclear program. it would be rope a dope. and the highest priority of president obama was to make sure that iran couldn't get a nuclear weapon, so we were disciplined in that. we didn't set out, even though we don't like it, and i have extensive plans that i will lay out to you if you want them, about how we're going to push back against iran's other activities, against terrorism, its contributions to sectarian violence in the middle east, all of those are unacceptable. but i got news for you, pushing back against an iran with a nuclear weapon is very different from pushing back against an iran without one. and we're guaranteeing they won't have one. so we're working very closely with the gulf states. just today in saudi arabia, ash carter was there yesterday, the foreign minister said that

iran's nuclear deal appears to have all of the provisions necessary to curtail iran's ability to obtain a nuclear weapon. the foreign minister of iran is going to be in the emirates this weekend. so i would suggest that we are going to continue to press iran for information about the missing american, about the immediate release of americans who have been unjustly held, and there isn't a challenge in the entire region that we won't push back against if iran is involved in it, but i will tell you, none of those challenges would be enhanced if iran gets a nuclear weapon. so the outcome cannot be guaranteed by sanctions alone. i wish it could, but it can't be. and by the way, it also can't be guaranteed by military action alone. our own

military tells us that. the only viable option is a diplomatic resolution of the type that was reached in vienna. and that deal will make our country and our allies safer. it will ensure that iran's nuclear program remains under intense scrutiny forever, and it will ensure that the world community is united in ensuring that iran's nuclear activities will remain wholly peaceful even as we state united in pushing back against the other activities which we object to. we believe this is a good deal for the world, america, our friends and allies, and we think it does deserve your support. >> thank you. you are watching live coverage of secretary john kerry's testimony before the senate foreign relations committee, which has 60 days,

congress does to review the iran nuclear deal. secretary kerry saying that the deal is a good one, and that it is crystal clear that it closes off the four primary pathways for iran to pursue a nuclear weapon. we're going to take a short break here, we'll be right back with more live testimony including from jacob lou, and energy secretary who also happens to be a nuclear scientist. we'll be right back.

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>> barack obama makes his first speech on kenyan soil. he says africa is on the move and brimming with opportunities. also ahead, first isil, now the kurds, turkey confirms its fighter jets launched strikes on pkk camps in iraq. tunisia