State Dept.: McCain’s Wrong, ‘Nobody’s Looking the Other Way’ on Iran’s ‘Provocative Activities’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:

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MCCAIN: "This is an outrage. This is the desperation not to offend the Iranians because the Iranian deal has to be kept intact. It's now made the American -- United States of America be the subject of absolute humiliation."

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TAPPER: "Is it fair to say that the Obama Administration is more willing to look the other way because of the nuclear deal that they have so much invested in?"

KIRBY: "First, I want to say with all respect to the senator, I personally have great respect for his service and bravery under fire in the Vietnam War. And everybody in the Navy and everybody at the Pentagon does too. So there's absolutely no question of our respect for him and his service. What I'll tell you is that nobody is looking the other way toward Iran or to their provocative behavior in the region or elsewhere around the world. This is not about the Iran deal. It's not about trying to get to the Iran deal. The fact that Secretary Kerry had opened up a channel of communication with Foreign Minister Zarif through the Iran deal negotiations obviously gave us an opportunity to get these guys back quickly and safely. And, again, that's what matters most here. But nobody is turning a blind eye to their other provocative activities. Look, they're still a state sponsor of terror. We still have sanctions unilaterally applied to them, against them, against their ballistic missile program. Nobody is obviously looking another way on all their other provocative activities. The Navy's doing an investigation on this. We need to let the investigators finish that work before we jump to conclusions about every bit and piece of this particular incident."