The US secretary of state defended the framework agreement reached between Iran and the major powers on April 2 on Tehran's nuclear work, acknowledging Iran's full commitment to whatever obligation it has assumed so far during the course of negotiations.
"Iran has proven that it will join into an agreement and then live by the agreement," John Kerry said in an interview with CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
The two sides have until June 30 to work out the details of a comprehensive deal.
"It's also important to note that we have two and a half more months to negotiate, so this is not finalized. This is an outline of parameters. And most people are very surprised by the depth and breadth and detail of these parameters," he said.
Kerry added, "And I think people need to hold their fire and let us negotiate without interference and be able to complete the job over the course of the next two and a half months."
Kerry made the remarks in response to a question about Republican Senator John McCain's recent comments, who, referring to the key parameters of the prospective deal specified by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in his speech on Thursday, called Kerry "delusional" particularly in claiming that under the framework agreement, sanctions against Iran would be lifted gradually in a phased manner.
"I think you're going to find out that they had never agreed to the things that John Kerry claimed that they had," McCain said.
In his address to a gathering of eulogists, the Leader stated any final agreement must stipulate the total removal of sanctions on the same day as the final deal is concluded.
Elsewhere, Kerry told "This Week" show on ABC on Sunday that he would stick to what he has said thus far about the outline agreement.
"I will stand by every fact that I have said."
"I think President Obama spoke very, very powerfully to Senator McCain yesterday and I'll let the president's words stand. I also stand by every fact that I have laid out… and I will let the final agreement speak for itself," he said.
In a press conference on Saturday, Obama blasted McCain for his remarks about Kerry, describing them as an indication of "the degree to which partisanship has crossed all boundaries, and we're seeing this again and again."
