Kerry: ‘People Negotiated Hard, it Was Tough, Very Intense ... Emotional’

LABOTT: "This is a lot more than you thought you'd get?"
KERRY: "Well, no, it's what we knew we wanted to get and had to get. But you never know in a negotiation if you will get it. But we knew we were going after something important. I've said continually, we can't have -- we have to have a good deal. And we have to close off those pathways and that's what we've been working to do."
LABOTT: "What's to say that Iran is not going to come back when you're doing final negotiating and try to reopen all of this?"
KERRY: "Then they don't get an agreement. I mean, look, we are very clear about where we are. I'm quite confident about the parameters as they have been articulated. They will have a narrative that is different from ours, obviously, and we will have what we have."
LABOTT: "Several members of Congress are already coming out against this agreement. They seem to have a veto-proof majority for a vote, for a stay. They could kill this."
KERRY: "No, I don't believe so. I think on close inspection, I don't believe that will happen. That would be very irresponsible to make politics trump facts and science and the realities of what is possible here. And it would be particularly irresponsible to do it when you have six nations P5+1, permanent members of the Security Council, plus Germany, China and Russia which don't have always and every day common interests with us in everything -- that they are absolutely dedicated to the enforcement of this. So I think that really some of our senators and congressmen need to step back, take a deep breath --"
LABOTT: "But you spent more time with the Iranian foreign minister than most foreign ministers you have been meeting with and certainly more than any U.S. official has spent with an Iranian official in 30 years. What was the most surprising thing about these negotiations? Take us inside there."
KERRY: "I think there was a seriousness and purpose. People negotiated hard. It was tough, very intense at times. Sometimes emotional and confrontational. It was a very intensive process. But because the stakes are very high and because there is a long history of not talking to each other -- for 35 years we haven't talked with the Iranians directly like this. So we're not basing this on a naivete or trust or some element of good faith. This is based on real steps, real accountability, real measures that have to be implemented and on accountability if they are not."
LABOTT: "Does this help you with Iran with other areas, for instance --" [crosstalk]
KERRY: "I have no idea because we didn't talk about it. [crosstalk] We didn't talk -- Iran has a lot of challenges right now with the rest of the community in that region. We made it clear that an Iran without a nuclear weapon is better than given some of what's happening in the region and Iran with a weapon. We've been focused on trying to deal with the nuclear issue, and we will continue as I made very clear tonight, as the president has made clear, to be focused on the other issues of what Iran is doing within the region."