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Clinton: Deal 'An Important Step in Putting a Lid On' Iran Nuke Program

She noted that she would be "absolutely devoted" to ensuring that the parameters of the deal are enforced if she is elected president.
Image: Hillary Rodham Clinton, Nancy Pelosi
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton walks with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 14, 2015. Clinton is attend meetings on Capitol Hill with House and Senate Democrats. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)Susan Walsh / AP

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that the just-announced nuclear deal with Iran is an “important step in putting a lid on Iran’s nuclear program.”

Clinton, who said she will be briefed today on the details of the agreement, told reporters on Capitol Hill that the deal “will enable us to turn our attention, as it must, to doing what we can with other partners in the region and beyond to try to prevent and contain Iran’s other bad actions.”

And she noted that she would be "absolutely devoted" to ensuring that the parameters of the deal are enforced if she is elected president.

“This agreement will have to be enforced vigorously, relentlessly,” she said.

“We have to treat this as an ongoing enforcement effort, which I certainly strongly support,” she said. “And as president [I] would be absolutely devoted to ensuring that the agreement is followed.”

She also said that the United States will have to address Iran’s “bad behavior” in other areas.

"We still have a lot of concern about the bad behavior and actions by Iran, which remains the largest state sponsor of terrorism, which does go after and undermine governments in the regions, that poses an existential threat to Israel, that unfairly, unlawfully confines and tries Americans on trumped up charges," she said.

“We will have to immediately, upon completion of this agreement and its rigorous enforcement, look to see how we build a coalition to try to prevent and undermine Iran’s bad behaviors in other arenas,” she said.

Negotiators from Iran and a group of six nations led by the U.S. announced the deal early Tuesday morning after 20 months of intense negotiations and decades of dispute over Iran’s nuclear development.

President Barack Obama has been pushing for the accord throughout his tenure in the White House. In remarks early Tuesday, he defended the deal and said it is “not built on trust, it is built on verification.”

The deal must now be considered by Congress. Obama made clear on Tuesday that he will veto any legislation intended to prevent its implementation.

Republican presidential contenders immediately derided the agreement as a threat to America’s national security as well as to its ally, Israel.