Republicans hit back at John Kerry over ‘terrible’ Iran deal after DNC speech

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John Kerry: As president, Joe Biden will stand up for our troops

Former Secretary of State John Kerry speaks at the second night of 2020 Democratic National Convention.

The Trump campaign responded quickly to John Kerry’s broadside against what he called President Trump’s foreign policy failures and reminded the former secretary of state about the controversial 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

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“John Kerry and Joe Biden shipped pallets of cash to Iran and supported the terrible Iran deal,” Trump’s War Room tweeted. “They betrayed Israel and helped Iran fund terrorism instead of keeping Americans safe.”

Kerry spoke during the Democratic National Convention’s second night and criticized Trump for failing U.S. troops overseas and looking foolish during diplomatic trips. He said Trump comes off a clumsy and turns these visits into a “blooper real.”

Trump announced in 2018 his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the deal that he called “horrible, one-sided” and should have never been made.

Harry J. Kazianis, a senior director at the Center for the National Interest, wrote on FoxNews.com that “the agreement was always nothing more than a giant Band-Aid over Iran’s obvious nuclear weapons aspirations – freezing those ambitions for roughly 10 years, but never truly solving the problem. Instead, the deal simply kicked the nuclear can down the road.”

The Associated Press reported that the money Iran received from the U.S. treasury at the time amounted to about $1.8 billion, but was Tehran's own money. “It was to pay an old IOU,” the AP reported.

After the nuclear deal, the U.S. and Iran announced they had settled the matter, with the U.S. agreeing to pay the $400 million principal along with about $1.3 billion in interest. The $400 million was paid in cash and flown to Tehran on a cargo plane. The arrangement provided for the interest to be paid later.

The Republican Jewish Coalition knocked Kerry over the deal on Tuesday.

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“John Kerry is lying about the Iran deal. What’s amazing is that there is proof that Iran never abided by the deal. The UN confirms Iran violated every aspect of the deal. He gave Iran everything,  got nothing,  and made the world less safe,” the group tweeted.

The Associated Press contributed to this report