QUESTION: I am the disgruntled Republicans, some Democrats, and your ally Israel, and I want you to – I want to test your perspective on what their take is here. The first main one is, “You guys should’ve come to us sooner in Congress about this, because you went your own path. We don’t like the path. You went too far down that path, and now we’re going to put in our own sanctions, because sanctions are the key.” What is your pushback?

DEPUTY SECRETARY BLINKEN: So, Chris, first of all, this deal, if it is finalized, pushes far into the future Iran’s pathways to a bomb. It cuts them off far into the future, and it’s the most effective thing we can do to deal with the nuclear challenge posed by Iran. To date, we’ve actually had almost 250 briefings, meetings, hearings, phone calls with members of Congress, and now we have the details. And the President has instructed us to move out aggressively, to work with Congress in the weeks ahead, to show them all of the details, to give them a chance to digest the details, and then to move forward with Congress.

QUESTION: I believe my friend Israel, who says we cannot accept a deal that is not an “if” deal, it’s a “when” deal. You’re just pulling out how long it will take them to get a weapon. They don’t have to dismantle any of their nuclear facilities. They’ll still have plenty, and we know that all they want to do is find a way to come up with a weapon, and you’re going to allow them to do that.

DEPUTY SECRETARY BLINKEN: Actually, Chris, it’s just the opposite. All of the critical pathways to a bomb are blocked and put off far, far into the future. And indeed, many of the restrictions will last 15 years, 20 years, 25 years – some of them in perpetuity, indefinitely. And the other thing that’s so critical is this: If you don’t like this deal – and it’s a very strong and good deal – but if you don’t like it, that’s fine, but you have an obligation to say what is the alternative and how would you achieve it. This is the best achievable deal that we can get to deal with the Iranian nuclear problem.

QUESTION: And my better deal is squeeze them – more sanctions. We’ve only been doing real sanctions for a few years. Let’s get the P5+1 and other allies and really squeeze them until they fully submit and allow us to go in there as a coalition and dismantle the whole thing. They don’t need nuclear power; they’re an oil-rich reserve country.

DEPUTY SECRETARY BLINKEN: So our partners, the international community, they all have a say in this. And the deal that we have with them is we would put the sanctions on, we’d get Iran to the table, and we’d get a good deal – and that’s exactly what we’ve done. Now, if we try to sanction Iran into total capitulation, most of our partners are going to walk. The sanctions regime will go away. Iran will get all of the benefits of having trade and money from the international community, and it will bear none of the burden of having to actually stop its program. That’s the choice.

QUESTION: Leaders lead. The U.S. has to go first. The others will follow. And you can’t do a deal when they won’t even discuss their feelings about the existence of Israel. They say that’s non-negotiable. How can you do a deal with them when your biggest ally in the region, Israel, is the target of their greatest hatred?

DEPUTY SECRETARY BLINKEN: Actually, this makes Israel more secure; it makes us more secure; it makes our partners in the region more secure. If there’s no deal, tomorrow Iran could rush to a nuclear weapon. All of the centrifuges that it stopped spinning, it’ll start spinning them again. All of the centrifuges that it says it’s now going to dismantle, they will not only stay in place, more and more will be added. So this actually is a deal that makes us more secure, Israel more secure, and all of our partners more secure.

QUESTION: They are duping you because they’re using this nuclear negotiation as a distraction, allowing them to run roughshod over the rest of the world. Look at Yemen, look at Iraq, look what they’re doing in Syria, and obviously their plans for Israel. You’re not addressing any of that. You’re basically telling them it’s okay as long as they do this kind of deal with you about nukes.

DEPUTY SECRETARY BLINKEN: Absolutely not. In fact, we’re addressing all of those problems very, very vigorously. All of the sanctions that go to their destabilizing activities, their support for terrorism, their human rights problems – those remain in place. We’ll be working very closely with our partners in the Gulf. You heard the President yesterday say he’s going to bring all of the leaders of the Gulf countries to Washington, to Camp David, for a summit to look at how we can increase, even, the efforts that we’re making to stop Iran’s malicious activities in all of these other areas. So even as we do this deal, we are standing strong and we’re standing firm against everything else that they’re doing.

QUESTION: Senator Corker --

DEPUTY SECRETARY BLINKEN: And imagine this, Chris --

QUESTION: Yes, sir.

DEPUTY SECRETARY BLINKEN: Imagine this. If they had a bomb, imagine how much more emboldened they would be and how much more difficult it would be to deal with them in all of these other areas. This is going to make us even more effective in dealing with the other problems that they pose.

QUESTION: Senator Corker says he’s going to move forward with his bill. What do you think your chances is of convincing him and the some Democrats but mostly Republican coalition that they put together of resistance on this?

DEPUTY SECRETARY BLINKEN: I had a great conversation with Senator Corker yesterday. He put out a very thoughtful statement. I think what he’d like to do is digest all of the information, the details of the deal. We’ll be spending time with him and other leaders in Congress to go over it. What we’d like is really to have some time and space to try and bring this to conclusion, to put in place the final details – it’s a complicated process, dotting all the Is, crossing all the Ts – between now and June 30th. And if we have the time and space to do that, we’ll be working with Congress to see how they can play the oversight role that they need to play.

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

DEPUTY SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thanks a lot, Chris. Appreciate it.