Hezbollah, shia militias hamas and the assad regime. If this deal goes through how would you propose to keep this newfound wealth out of the hands of terrorists and tyrants . Next, while im glad that iran will be limited in its development of advanced centrifuges for eight years i worry what happens down the road. After the research and Development Ban expires, iran could quickly move towards the next stage of its enrichment activities. Id like to know what other provisions in the deal, if any, will mitigate this risk. Finally i have a fundamental concern that 15 years from now iran will essentially be off the hook. If they choose irans leaders could produce weapons grade highly enriched uranium without limitation. They could use advanced centrifuges to speed this progress even further. This amounts to iran being a legitimatized Nuclear Threshold state in the year 2030. My big question is this what happens then . Are we back to square one . Is this deal just pushing pause for 15 years . I also must say i have trepidation. Barely a week after the iranians signed the deal there was the supreme lead erer ali ayatollah chanting death to americans. How can we trust iran when this type of thing happens . It is very disconcerting. So im looking forward to hearing from our distinguished witnesses. Again thank you for your service and hard work. And i yield back to the chairman. Thank you mr. Engel. This morning were pleased to be joined by john kerry, ernie moniz, and jack lew. Prior to his appointment secretary kerry served as the United States senator for massachusetts for 28 years. Before being appointed secretary of energy dr. Moniz was professor of physics and engineering at mit where he was a faculty member since 1973. From director of the office of management budget. Secretary lew now serve as the secretary of the treasury. Without objection the witnesss full prepared statements will be made part of the record. Members will have five days to submit statements for the record. And before turning to the testimony we have most members present here. I know we all recognize the gravity of this issue. We want everybody to have a chance to question the secretaries. To accomplish they would ask everyone members and witnesses respect the time limit. And that means leaving adequate amount of time for witnesses to answer your questions. And nothing requires full use of your time. So we will begin with a summary of secretary kerrys testimony. Mr. Secretary. Well chairman royce, Ranking Member engel and all of the members of the committee, thank you very very much. We genuinely appreciate the opportunity to be here to, frankly, clear up a lot of misinterpretations, some element of public distortion that exists out there. There is one ad ive seen on tv has at least three or four major absolutely, totally incorrect facts on which it bases the ad. And with all respect to both the chairman and the Ranking Member there are conclusions that have been drawn that just dont in fact match with the reality of what this deal sets forth. And we happily, happily look forward to clarifying that of course at this hearing. That is what its all about. And we welcome the opportunity. We are convinced that the plan that we have developed with five other nations accomplishes the task that president obama set out, which is to close off the four pathways to a bomb. And i think as you listen to ernie moniz particularly on the technical components and see the whole deal i really believe that that is a conclusion that everybody can come to. Not saying they will. But can. Im joined by obviously two cabinet secretaries. Both ernie and jack were absolutely critical to our ability to do this. The treasury departments knowledge of the sanctions and application of the sanctions has been exemplary, and they helped us understand the implications of all of these sanctions. And as jack will let you know, were not talking about 150 billion. Were not talking about 100 billion. Were actually talking about 55 billion that will go to iran and well go into that later. But from the day that our negotiations began mr. Chairman, we were Crystal Clear that we would not accept anything less than a good deal. One that would shut off all of those pathways towards fissile material for a Nuclear Weapon. And after 18 months of very intensive talks, the facts are pretty clear that the plan announced this month by six nations in fact accomplishes that. I might remind everybody all of those other nations have nuclear power, or Nuclear Weapons. And all of them are extremely knowledgeable in this challenge of proliferation. So under the terms of this agreement iran has agreed to remove 98 of its stockpile of enriched uranium, dismantle twothirds of its installed centrifuges and destroy by filling it with concrete the existing core of its heavy water plutonium reactor. Iran has agreed to refrain from producing or acquiring highly enriched uranium and weapons grade plutonium for Nuclear Weapons forever. Now, how do we enforce or verify so that that is more than words . And particularly to speak to the Ranking Members question what happens after 15 years . What happens is forever. We have an extremely rigorous inspection verification regime. Because iran has agreed to accept and will ratify prior to the conclusion of the agreement and with if they dont it is a material breech of the agreement to ratify the protocol. Which requires extensive access as well as significant additional transparency measures. Including cradle to grave for the countrys uranium from mining to milling through the centrifuge production to the waste for 25 years. Bottom line, if iran fails to comply with the terms of our agreement, our Intel Community our Energy Department which is responsible for Nuclear Weaponry, are absolutely clear that we will quickly know it and we will be able to respond accordingly with every option available to us today. And when it comes to verification and monitoring there is absolutely no sunset in this agreement. Not in 10 years not in 15 years. Not in 20 years, not in 25 years. No sunset, ever. Now remember two years ago when we began these negotiations and a lot of people are kind of forgetting conveniently sort of where we are today. People are sitting there saying oh my gosh in 15 years this is going to happen or whatever. Iran is going to have the ability to be, you know capable nuclear power. Folks, when we began our negotiations we faced an iran that was already enriching uranium up to 20 . They already had a facility built in secret under ground in a mountain that was rapidly stockpiling enriched uranium. When we began negotiations they had enough enriched uranium for 10 to 12 bombs. Already. Already they had installed as many as 19,000 Nuclear Centrifuges and they had nearly finished building the heavy water reactor that could produce weapons grade plutonium at a rate of one to two bombs per year. Experts put irans braektdeakout time when we began which remember is not the old time with arms control. Breakout time as we have applied it is extraordinary conservative. It is the time it takes to have enough fissile material for one bomb. But for one potential bomb. It is not the amount of time to the bomb. So when we say they will have one year to a certain amount of fissile material, they still have to go design the bomb, test do a whole bunch of other things. And i think you would agree no nation is going to consider itself Nuclear Capable with one bomb. So if this deal is rejected, folks by the way that the existing when we starting negotiations the existing breakout time was about two months. We are going to take it to one year and then it tails down slowly. And ill explain how that provides us with guarantees. But if this deal is rejected we immediately go back to the reality i just described. Without any viable alternative. Except that the unified diplomatic support that produced this agreement will disappear overnight. Let me underscore the alternative to the deal that we have reached is not some kind of unicorn fantasy that contemplates irans complete capitulation. Ive heard people talk about dismantling their program. That didnt happen under president bush when they had a policy of no enrichment. And they had 163 centrifuges. They went up to the 19,000. Our Intelligence Community confirms and i ask you all to sit with them. They will tell you that is not going to happen. So in the real world we have two options. Either we move ahead with this agreement to ensure that Irans Nuclear program is limited rigorously scrutinized and wholly peaceful. Or we have no agreement at all. No inspection, no restraint no sanctions, no knowledge of what they are doing and they start to enrich. Now to be clear, if Congress Rejects what was agreed to in vienna, you will not only be rejecting every one of the restrictions that we put in place. And by the way, nobody is counting the two years that iran has already complied with the interim agreement. And by the way complied completely and totally so that weve already rolled their program back. Weve reduced the 20 enriched uranium to zero. Thats already been accomplished. But if this is rejected we go back to their ability to move down that road. You will not only be giving iran a free pass to double the pace of its uranium enrichment to build a heavy water reactor, to install new and more efficient centrifuges, but they will do it all without the unprecedented inspection and transparency measures that weve secured. Everything that we have tried to prevent will now happen. Now whats worse . If we walk away, we walk away alone. Our partners are not going to be with us. Instead they will walk away from the tough multilateral sanctions that brought iran to the negotiating table in the first place. And we will have squandered the best chance that we have to solve this problem through peaceful means. Make no mistake from the very first day in Office President obama has made it clear that he will never accept a Nuclear Armed iron. And he is the only president who has asked for and commissioned the design of a weapon that has the ability to take out facilities and has actually deployed that weapon. But the fact is iran has already mastered the fuel cycle. They have mastered the ability to produce significant stockpiles of fissile material. And you have to have that to make a Nuclear Weapon. We cant bomb away that knowledge. Anymore than you can sanction it away. Now, i was chair of the Senate ForeignRelations Committee when we a lot of us joined together and put many most of the iran sanctions in place. And i know well, as you do, that the whole point was to bring iran to the negotiating table. Even the toughest sanctions previously did not stop irans program from growing from hundred and hundred and what 63 to 400 to 5,000 more 19000 now. And sanctions are not an end to themselves. They are a diplomatic tool that has enabled us to actually do what sanctions could not without the negotiation. And that is to reign in a Nuclear Program that was headed in a very dangerous program and to put limits on it. To shine a spotlight on it. To watch it like no other Nuclear Program has ever been watched before. We have secured the ability to do things that exist in in other agreement no other agreement. To those wondering what might happen in year 15 or 20. I say this. If you walk away year 15 or 20 starts tomorrow. And without any of the longterm access and verification safeguards we have put in place. What is the alternative . What are you going to do when iran does start to enrich. Which they will feel they have a right to if we walk away. What are you going to do when the sanctions arent in place and cant be reconstituted because we caulked awalked away from a deal that our five fellow nations accepted. I heard ask that the vienna agreement would somehow legitimate iez Irans Nuclear program. That is non sense. Under the agreement irans leaders are permanently barred from pursuing a Nuclear Weapon. And there are permanent restraints and access provisions and inspection provisions to guarantee that. And i underscore, if they try to evade that obligation we will know it. Because a civil Nuclear Program requires full access 24 7, requires full documentation and we will have the ability to track that as no other program before. The iaea will be continuously monitoring their centrifuge production as those centrifuges cannot be diverted to a convert facility. For the next 25 years the iaea will be continuously monitoring uranium from the point it is produced all the way through production so kit not be diverted to another facility. For the life of this agreement, however long iran stays in the npt and is living up to its obligations they must live up to the Additional Protocol. And that Additional Protocol as we can get into today greatly expands the iaeas capacity to have accountability. So this agreement, ill close by saying this agreement gives us a far stronger detection capability more time to respond to any attempt to break out towards a bomb and much more International Support in stopping it than we would have without the deal. If we walk away from this deal and then we decide to use military force, we are not going to have the United Nations or the other five nations that negotiated with us. Because they will feel we walked away. And make no mistake, president obama has committed to staying with the policy of stopping this bomb. So in the 28 years a little more, that i was privileged to represent massachusetts, i had a 100 voting record on every issue for israel. First traveled there in 1986. I have great friends there. Members of my family others who care enormously about israel. I understand the fear. I understand the concerns that our friends in israel have. But we believe that what we have laid out here is a way of making israel and the region in fact safer. And i emphasize we do not lose any option in 15 years 10 years, 20 years 5 years that we have available to us today. We will push back against irans other activities. Weve laid out a very detailed policy for working with the gulf states and others. And we look forward to working with israel in the effort to do that. Our current Security Cooperation with israel is at an unprecedented level and it is why we have a robust military presence in the region and it is why were working so closely with the gulf states. So mr. Chairman, we will continue to push back against iran on every front available. But the fact is it is a lot easier to push back against an iran that doesnt have a Nuclear Weapon rather than one that does. Thats been our principal strategic objective. Deal with a Nuclear Weapon, and then you have an easier time dealing with the other issues too. The outcome here is critical. We believe this makes our countries and allies safer. It will guarantee irans program is under intense scrutiny. It will ensure that the World Community is unified in backing this up. And in the end it will guarantee irans program has to be peaceful and therefore is a good deal for the world a good deal for america a good deal for allies and our friends and we believe it richly deserves your support. Dr. Moniz. Thank you secretary kerry. Secretary kerry has been very thorough. Dr. Moniz if you could be brief and well get back on time and recognize you at this point. Thank you chairman royce Ranking Member engel and members of the committee. And thanks for the opportunities to discuss the nuclear conventions of the agreement reached. The jcpoa prevents iran from getting a the Nuclear Weapon provides strong verification measures to give us time to respond if they violate its terms and takes none of our options off the table. I was backed up in the negotiations by the nuclear competency built over decades at doe and supported by this congress. Americas leading experts at doe labs and sites were engaged throughout the negotiations. Nine labs and sites in seven states took part in supporting our negotiating position. These experts, again were essential. And as a result of their work i am very confident that the technical underpinnings of this deal are solid and the department of energy stands ready to assist in implementation. The jcpoa will extend for at least ten years. Fissile material being reduced from 12,000 to 300 kilograms. Stringent constraints on irans enriched uranium stockpile as i said for 15 years. A strong containment and surveillance measures on all centrifuge manufacturing and the uranium supply chain for 25 years. The verification is forever stronger than it would be without the agreement. The iraq reactor redesigned. And further more the irradiated fuel sent out of country for the life of the reactor. Thus the parameters are maintained and all paths to a bombs worth of Nuclear Weapons material are addressed. In fact lazon is materially strengthened in the p5 1 vienna agreement. One important area and only one of that strengthening is that iran will not engage in several activities that could contribute to the development of the Nuclear Explosive device including explosively driven neutron sources and multiple point detonation systems. These are indefinite and in addition iran will not pursue plutonium or uranium or uranium alloy metal lur ji for 15 years. Mr. Chairman, i cannot agree that the agreement does not dismantle irans Technology Efforts or relevance to Nuclear Weapons. In fact every aspect is rolled back. The iaea will be per