NEW YORK TIMES – SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday promised decisions soon about both a potential deal with Iran to limit its nuclear program and a restoration of military aid to Egypt that was suspended after the military takeover of the country in 2013.
At a government-sponsored economic development conference here before heading to Switzerland for another round of talks with Iran, Mr. Kerry sounded notes of optimism, noting that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Islamic cleric who is the paramount decision-maker in its theocratic government, had issued a formal religious ruling disavowing aspirations to build a nuclear weapon. “We have great respect for the religious importance of a fatwa,” Mr. Kerry said, using the Arabic term for such religious rulings.
But he also reiterated that the Obama administration has made the end of this month a deadline for a deal that would constrain Iran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon. “Time is of the essence, the clock is ticking and important decisions need to be made,” he said, adding, “It may be that Iran simply can’t say yes to the type of deal the international community is looking for.”
He argued that a deal with Iran that included specific measures to verify compliance held out the only possible hope for ensuring that “Iran’s nuclear program will be peaceful now and peaceful forever,” because “sanctions alone can’t guarantee over the long term” that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapons.
He alluded obliquely to the possibility of a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities—- “make no mistake, we do have other options”—- but he argued that over the long term even such strikes would not be as effective as “the right deal.”
Mr. Kerry was attending the conference here to convey American support for promises of economic liberalization laid out by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the former general who led the military takeover in 2013.
In the aftermath of the takeover and a brutal crackdown on supporters of the ousted president, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Obama administration suspended more than $700 million of the $1.3 billion in annual American military aid to Egypt.
The failure to release all of the aid, including the delivery of some F-16 fighter planes, has become a major issue for Mr. Sisi’s government and among his supporters. The government is struggling to squash a campaign of attacks against military and police personnel by Islamist militants based in the North Sinai, and Mr. Sisi’s supporters argue that his government needs the heavy weaponry and other aid to help fight the militants. Last month, Egypt used some of its F-16s to carry out an air strike aimed at Islamist militants in the Libyan city of Derna, in retaliation for the video-recorded beheading of a group of Egyptian Christians by allied militants in another Libyan city.
Congress has required the Obama administration to certify that Egypt is taking steps toward democracy or to issue a national security waiver sidestepping that requirement. Either step would open the administration to criticism from human rights groups. They argue that Egypt has taken little or no steps toward democracy or to correct its rights abuses, sometimes recalling President Obama’s past statements about the importance of such American values.
But asked about the F-16s on Saturday, Mr. Kerry appeared to indicate that he expected the full shipment would soon be on its way. “I really expect a decision very soon,” he said. He did not comment on the possibility of either a certification or a waiver.
