‘DISTRUST BUT VERIFY’

Hillary Takes Ownership of Iran Deal

Shares credit with Obama.

Hillary Clinton gave a lengthy speech Wednesday in support of the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration and other world powers, effectively removing little space between herself and the agreement. Clinton noted in her speech to the Brookings Institute that she had been Secretary of State during the time that an international sanctions regime was established to pressure Iran on its nuclear program.

"President Obama and I pursued a two-prong strategy: pressure and engagement,” she said. "I traveled the world capital by capital, leader by leader, twisting arms to help build the global coalition that produced some of the most effective sanctions in history."

But in an implicit asterisk to her support of the deal, Clinton said that there was much more yet to be done on executing the agreement. Clinton also sounded hawkish tones about how she was willing to confront Iran militarily — but only after exhausting diplomacy, first.

"My approach will be distrust and verify. We should anticipate that Iran will test the next president, they'll want to see how far they can bend the rules. That won't work if I'm in the White House," Clinton said. "As president, I will take whatever action is necessary to protect the united states and our allies, I will not hesitate to take military action if Iran attempts to obtain a nuclear weapon, and I will set up my successor to be able to credibly make the same pledge."

— Tim Mak