blinken if i can visit with you about proliferation.r thing we heard, and i think senator markey talked about, if iran is able to proliferate, who can do and what interests are going to be. we heard saudi arabia is interested in pursuing a development program or purchasing nuclear weapons from pakistan. there is that concern that this could result in actually instead of eliminating nuclear arms resulting in an arm's race in the middle east. can you comment on that? >> yes, senator, thank you. what's most likely to lead to a nuclear arms race is iran getsing a nuclear weapon. that would open the flood gates and we would go down a path that no one wants to go down. as i suggested earlier, it's our judgment that what iran has done is hardly going to be a model for any other country. i don't think any other country would want to subject itself to the burdens that have been imposed by the international community over the last decade or more for its efforts to pursue a nuclear weapon. the isolation, the sanctions, the state of this economy, t

i think secretary blinken is right. it has not, to our knowledge sort of bled over into the iran negotiations. >> if you would talk a little bit more about that because one of the things that i thought was very telling was when russia cancelled the missile deal with iran several years ago and we've got putin, i was in an armed services committee hearing where the former national security adviser talked about putin's comments about using nuclear weapons during this ukraine conflict and suggesting that that might be a possibility at some point. so to what extent do we believe that russia continues to be very concerned about iran developing a nuclear weapon and how is what's happening in ukraine affecting that? >> senator, 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 the ability to develop material. there have been reports over the course of the negoti

i think secretary blinken is right.as not, to our knowledge, sort of bled over into the iran negotiations. >> if you would talk a little bit more about that because one of the things that i thought was very telling was when russia cancelled the missile deal with iran several years ago and we've got putin, i was in an armed services committee hearing where the former national security adviser talked about putin's comments about using nuclear weapons during this ukraine conflict and suggesting that that might be a possibility at some point. so to what extent do we believe that russia continues to be very concerned about iran developing a nuclear weapon and how is what's happening in ukraine affecting that? >> senator, 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 the ability to develop material. there have been reports over the course of the negotiatio

our first witness is antony blinken.e assumed his post after being approved by the senate in december. he is a former national security advisor to the president. welcome back. our second witness today's david cohen, the under secretary of state. i want to thank you both for being here. we would remind you that your full statements, without objection, will be included in the record. if you could keep your remarks to around five minutes, we would appreciate it. i know there will be numbers of questions. we look forward to testimony. >> mr. chairman, ranking member menendez, thank you very much. mr. chairman, congratulations to your chairmanship. i very much look forward to working with you. i think it's very appropriately restrained hearings here today in this conference on the subject of iran and nuclear negotiations. it is of paramount importance to our national security. secretary kerry, undersecretary sherman, and her whole team was in geneva last week as part of the effort to get to an agreement where we can be sure t

senator blinken let's be honest.ions, there were consultations, long consultations with members who were in agreement with the president's proposed policy changes but none who might be in disagreement. and that is -- that's on cuba. and that gives rise to the concern that there will be no consultation but notification only to those of us who may be concernedj any agreement or continuous rolling extensions. so i hope you understand that as it relates to moving forward. it was the subject of your conversation with me when you were a nominee of questions i asked you here before the committee in your nomination and i'm disappointed. with reference to march 24th, if there is a quote unquote deal, will that deal be written? >> at this point i can't tell you. my expectation would be that we would be able to show all of the critical elements of the1d; whether there would be an actual initial agreement that would then be turned into a technical agreement at this point, i can't tell you. >> well, wouldn't the outlines of a dea

and at today's hearing, deputy secretary of state tony blinken warned iran would simply walk away fromalks. >> iran is well aware that a sword of damocles hangs over its head. it needs no further motivation. so the sanctions, new sanctions at this point are not necessary, but we also believe their passage now would put at risk getting to a final deal over the next several months. >> woodruff: meanwhile, house speaker john boehner invited israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu to address congress on iran, and netanyahu accepted. the white house was not consulted in advance. it said the invitation goes against diplomatic protocol. >> ifill: shiite rebels in yemen took the pro-american president captive in his own home today. hours later, the state news agency reported that president abd-rabbu mansour hadi reached a deal with the rebels. the agreement calls for the gunmen to pull away from the hadi residence, and to give the shiites more say in yemen's affairs. that includes more representation in parliament. >> woodruff: france has announced nearly half a billion dollars in new spendi

. >> iran was the topic of today's foreign relations committee where tony blinken discussed the ongoing negotiations with iran. bob corker chairs this meeting. >> we are here to ask you to please not negotiate with more sanctions on iran. ranking member menendez, we employed to keep the peace. [indiscernible] [indiscernible] we want no new sanctions. the people of california want -- not new sanctions. >> i'm going to call the meeting to order. i would say to people in the audience that we would appreciate you refraining. we understand people have strong emotions about much of what happens in this committee and others and we hope you'll respect the work of the committee. i have never operated a gavel. i learned as a young man how to operate a hammer. i understand my staff told me to be a little more gentle with this, but i want to welcome everybody to the committee. we've switched sides. that was not symbolic. i understand just because of the number of seats it works better this way. i do want to welcome the new members of the committee and say that under senator menendez's leadership, i