Clinton: Iranian Nuke Deal Example of ‘Smart Diplomacy’

STEPHANOPOULOS: “Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton going at it this week as we begin this campaign in 2016 just two weeks from the Iowa caucuses. Secretary Clinton joins us now from Charleston, South Carolina, ahead of tonight’s big debate. Good morning, Madam Secretary.”
CLINTON: “Good morning, George.”
STEPHANOPOULOS: “I want to get to that back and forth between you and Bernie Sanders, but first the news that the American hostages from Iran are heading home this morning. Donald Trump not giving the president any credit and Marco Rubio says it’s going to create incentives for other U.S. adversaries to take hostages. Does he have a point?”
CLINTON: “Well, look, I’m pleased, like I hope everybody is, that we have American citizens coming home this morning from Iran. They were unjustly held there, and I did a lot of work on these issues when Americans were being picked up, falsely charged and imprisoned, to get them home. So I applaud the fact that that’s happened. We still don’t see Bob Levinson coming home, so we have unfinished questions and business still. But I think this is a part of what we’re going to be pursuing — persistent, patient diplomacy. Today’s also the day that we have verified the Iranians have followed through on the requirements under the nuclear agreement. They have shipped out the vast majority, I think it’s up to 98 percent, of their enriched uranium. They have poured cement into one of the reactors we worried about because of a plutonium potential threat. They have destroyed centrifuges. So this is the kind of smart diplomacy I was proud to be a part of in the first administration of President Obama that we’re just going to have to be persistent with, because we have a lot of problems with Iran — their aggressive behavior, their destabilizing of neighboring states, their continuing military support for Assad and so much else. But the fact that we’ve put the lid on the nuclear weapons program, the fact that we got our prisoners back, I think is a reason for good news.”