NICK SCHIFRIN: We now turn to Ambassador Wendy
Sherman.
She was the lead U.S. negotiator for the nuclear
agreement with Iran during the Obama administration.
And she's now a senior fellow at the Belfer
Center at Harvard.
You heard me ask Brian Hook whether the U.S.
intention is to provoke Iran, is to wage war,
which is what we heard from the Iranian ambassador.
Do you believe the U.S. intention is to provoke
Iran?
WENDY SHERMAN, Former U.S. Undersecretary
of State for Political Affairs: Well, I hope
that the U.S. intention is not to provoke
Iran, to leave the deal, or to provoke Iran
into a regional conflict.
Indeed, I think that President Rouhani very
carefully threaded the needle today, not leaving
the deal, but take -- beginning to take steps
to say, please, let's not escalate the situation.
I wish the Trump administration were as measured
in its approach.
And I would say to Brian Hook that -- and
to the Trump administration -- what have they
gotten as a result of withdrawing from this
deal a year ago?
There is more malign behavior in the Middle
East, not less.
Americans are still in prison and missing
in Iran.
The Iranian people do not have more freedom.
And the administration has set Iran back on
a path to perhaps working to obtain nuclear
weapons, exactly what we stopped from happening.
NICK SCHIFRIN: So you just said the U.S. has
led Iran onto that path.
But, as I asked the ambassador, why should
Iran enrich more than 3.67?
What's wrong with where they are right now?
And why isn't that criticism valid?
WENDY SHERMAN: Iran is very happy to stay
at 3.67 percent in its enrichment of uranium,
if, indeed, the joint comprehensive plan of
action, the Iran deal, stays in place.
And those limitations are for quite some time,
and it is all about...
(CROSSTALK)
NICK SCHIFRIN: Although, as you know, your
critics say not long enough.
WENDY SHERMAN: Yes, I know they say it's not
forever.
It's at least solid for 15 years that you
cannot go above a certain stockpile limit.
You can't go above 3.67 percent.
But even after that, there are limitations
on what Iran can do, and there is the most
extensive monitoring and inspection of Iran
of any country in the world.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Iran said, as you heard the
ambassador, that we will enrich beyond 3.67
if we don't get the incentives that the JCPOA,
that the Iran deal, intended for Iran to get.
The Europeans would be the ones to help deliver
that.
Can they deliver the incentives economically
to keep Iran within this deal?
WENDY SHERMAN: I think it's very tough, because,
as I think you know quite well, the U.S. secondary
economic sanctions, which say that, if you
deal with the Central Bank of Iran, you can't
deal with an American bank, are incredibly
powerful, because, quite frankly, virtually
every company in the world would choose an
American bank over the Central Bank of Iran.
And when you marry that with the oil sanctions
that -- with the administration trying to
go to zero exports allowed around the world,
they're very powerful sanctions.
The U.S. has to be careful in what it does,
though.
If we use these sanctions too much, people
will begin to say that we should no longer
have the dollar as the reserve currency for
the world.
The other thing I would point out, Nick, is,
in my view, there are tactics here, but no
strategy, and certainly no consistent strategy.
If we take a look at North Korea, if we take
a look at Venezuela, if we take a look at
how we're dealing with the Chinese and the
Uyghurs, we see a very different set of standards.
NICK SCHIFRIN: The U.S. earlier this week
deployed a carrier group to the Middle East,
as well as a bomber squadron, in response
to intelligence, according to the officials
I spoke to, in which Iran was planning to
target U.S. troops and also target U.S. allies,
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates.
Doesn't that show the Iran deal didn't improve
Iranian behavior?
WENDY SHERMAN: We never said that it would
improve Iranian behavior in the region.
What we did say is that we needed to get the
nuclear weapon off the table, so it wouldn't
deter our actions and our partners and our
allies' actions in the region.
And we could then use all of the sanctions
we still had on Iran to press them to the
table to deal with their malign behavior,
the state sponsorship of terrorism, their
human rights abuses, and their keeping Americans
in prison, and not bringing back missing Americans
to our home.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Very quickly.
I only have a little -- a few seconds left.
WENDY SHERMAN: Sure.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Iran's strategy seems to be
waiting out the Trump administration.
If a Democrat is elected in 2020, should he
or she rejoin the deal and/or try and expand
it?
WENDY SHERMAN: I think every Democratic candidate
that I have heard have said that they would
immediately rejoin the deal.
But, like in any arms control negotiation,
you usually have a follow-on agreement.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Wendy Sherman, lead U.S. negotiator
for the Iran deal, thank you so much.
WENDY SHERMAN: Thank you.
NICK SCHIFRIN: And for a view from the streets
of Iran, we have more online, where I talk
to special correspondent Reza Sayah in Tehran.
That's at PBS.org/NewsHour.
