White House: Hillary Brought Iran to the Table, a ’Testament to Her Diplomatic Skill’

HENRY: “Obviously, you mentioned Secretary Kerry’s critical role here in trying to finalize the deal. Can you talk a little bit about what Secretary Clinton did in the first four years to try to open the door and kind of set things in motion?”

EARNEST: “Well, Ed, at that stage early on, you recall that when President Obama took office that there was unity of opinion inside of Iran about how important it was for them to develop a nuclear weapon. And there was a lot of dissention across international community about what sort of approach could be taken to try to prevent that from happening.

And because of the leadership of the president and because of some of the important diplomatic work that Secretary Clinton did, we’ve actually seen that dynamics completely reversed. The international community is united behind the principle that Iran needs to come into compliance with the international community about their nuclear program. That’s evidenced by the fact6 that we have -- the Brits, the Germans, the French, the Chinese and the Russians sitting at the table with us negotiating with Iran.

The other thing that was an important part of Secretary Clinton’s work in this regard is the congressional sanctions. You will recall that at the end of 2011 we’ve put in very tough sanctions against Iran. And what Secretary Clinton did is that she did a very difficult diplomatic work of coordinating with the international community to implement these sanctions as well. And that meant that there were some countries in Asia particularly who rely on Iran, who at least previously were relying on Iranian oil.

Secretary Clintons did the difficult diplomatic work that was required to get some of our allies in the region to cooperate with the broader international community to prevent the importation or at least limit the importation of Iranian oil. And that is what maximized the pressure that has compelled the Iranians to come to a negotiating table. I think that is testament to get diplomatic skill that we have reached a point where we could convene serious negotiations like the ones that are currently taking place.”