Biden's secretary of state nominee Blinken seeks 'stronger' Iran deal

Anthony Blinken, President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for secretary of state, said Tuesday during his congressional confirmation hearing that he would seek a "longer and stronger" Iran nuclear agreement.

"The president-elect believes that if Iran comes back into compliance, we would too. But we would use that as a platform with our allies and partners, who would once again be on the same side with us, to seek a longer and stronger agreement," Blinken said at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing.

The Iran nuclear deal was reached in 2015, during the Obama administration, in which Biden was the vice president. The Trump administration withdrew the U.S. from the nuclear agreement in 2018.

Blinken, who pledged to work Congress on Iran policy, said the U.S. is a "long way" from reaching a new agreement with Iran.

"Iran with a nuclear weapon, or on the threshold of having one and with the capacity to build one on short order, would be an Iran that is even more dangerous than it already is when it comes to all of the other malicious activities that it's engaged in – whether it is support for terrorism, fueling and feeding proxies, or destabilizing the region," said Blinken, former deputy secretary of state in the Obama administration.

"I think we have an urgent responsibility to do whatever we can to prevent Iran from acquiring or creating a weapon or getting close to the capacity to breaking out on short notice."