Secretary of State John Kerry wasn’t expecting at least one of the questions he got during his appearance Tuesday before the House Committee on Foreign Relations.
There to defend the Iran deal, Kerry was asked whether the U.S. was keeping a possible nuclear strike against Iran on the table to prevent the Islamic Republic from obtaining nuclear weapons capability.
“On occasion you have used the phrase ‘all options are on the table,'” Alabama Republican Rep. Mo Brooks prefaced his question to Kerry, before asking: “Do those options to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons include the use of nuclear weapons by the United States?”
“I know of no President of the United States who have ever taken all military options available to him off the table,” a flummoxed Kerry responded. “But I also don’t know of any realistic situation in which that would present a very feasible strategy given the proximity of great friends of ours to Iran and the consequences of that.”
“But I don’t think the president has taken any — you know, there’s no option that has ever been discussed that’s been taken off the table,” Kerry concluded.
So let the record show, according to John Kerry, the U.S. is officially keeping a possible nuclear strike against Iran on the table.