Hillary Clinton Addresses Closing Plenary of AJC Global Forum ...2 of 3 >
May 14, 2014 - Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed the closing plenary of the American Jewish Committee's Global Forum 2014.  After a few remarks about her soon-to-be-released book (which she jokingly referred to "a light summer read that I'm sure will be great at the beach") Clinton focused her speech on the efforts to stop Iran's nuclear program.  She recounted the Obama administration's policy of engagement and pressure, including the extensive work done on sanctions, leading up to the negotiations going on now.  "No deal is better than a bad deal," Clinton said to applause.  "And from my perspective we cannot and should not accept any agreement that endangers Israel or our own national security."  She continued: 

"Now its worth noting that even if an agreement is reached Iran's support for terrorism and its aggressive behavior in the region remains a threat to the United States and our allies, and we need to step up our efforts to confront and push back against these threats.  Now president Obama has said that the odds of reaching a comprehensive agreeement are no more than 50-50.  I personally am skeptical that the Iranians will follow through and deliver  xxI've seen many false hopes dashed over the yearsxxbut nonetheless this is a promising development and we need to test it to see what can be achieved.  This is the time to give diplomacy space to work.  If it does not, there will be opportunities to put in place additional sanctions in the future..."
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