'This Week' Transcript: Secretary of State John Kerry

Secratary of State John Kerry on "This Week."

ByABC News
November 23, 2013, 10:34 AM
Democratic Strategist and ABC News Contributor Donna Brazile, ABC News Political Analyst and ABC News Special Correspondent Matthew Dowd, The Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol, and ABC News' Cokie Roberts on 'This Week'
Democratic Strategist and ABC News Contributor Donna Brazile, ABC News Political Analyst and ABC News Special Correspondent Matthew Dowd, The Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol, and ABC News' Cokie Roberts on 'This Week'
ABC News

New York, Nov. 24, 2013— -- A rush transcript of "This week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday morning, November 24, 2013 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning and welcome to This Week.

Breaking overnight, an historic deal.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have a real opportunity to achieve a comprehensive peaceful settlement.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: The international community and America's long-time enemy forge a late night landmark pact to freeze Iran's nuclear program. Will it stop Iran from getting the bomb? If it falls apart, is war next?

Joining us this morning, Secretary of State John Kerry. We go inside Iran.

Plus, Martha Raddatz and Christiane Amanpour with all the breaking details and analysis.

Then our powerhouse roundtable takes on the Democrats' stunning move to shake up the Senate.

And America's lasting fascination with JFK.

Plus, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Maya Angelou, calypso queen.

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MAYA ANGELOU, WRITER: I'm proud of that song in 200 years.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: Right here this Sunday morning.

ANNOUNCER: From ABC News, This Week with George Stephanopoulos starts now.

And we begin with that big news breaking overnight, after months of secret talks and high-stakes diplomacy, a deal between Iran and the west to suspend its nuclear program and get some relief from those sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy.

It's sparking strong and split reactions we'll get right to Secretary of State John Kerry in a moment. First, ABC's chief foreign correspondent Terry Moran has more on the fine print and the fierce response. He's at the negotiating site in Geneva. Good morning, Terry.

TERRY MORAN, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, George.

The deal hammered out in the wee hours of the morning here is full of either promise or peril, depending on your point of view. The headlines, Iran has agreed to suspend the growth of its nuclear program. It won't add to its stock of enriched uranium. It will degrade some of the most dangerous enriched uranium it has. And it has agreed to open up its nuclear facilities to daily inspections by international officials.

The U.S. has agreed to ease sanctions to the tune of about $6 billion or $7 billion, that's actually a relatively small portion of the sanctions that have brought Iran's economy to its knee.

And this whole thing is temporary, six months, neither side trusts each other here as they enter into negotiations to try to reach a comprehensive agreement lifting all sanctions in exchange for an end to Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions. That is a very tough nut to crack.

STEPHANOPOULOS: No surprise, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu trashing the deal, calls it a bad deal, an historic mistake. Says Israel is not going to be bound by the agreement. And he's going to do everything he can to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

MORAN: Absolutely, no question about that, George. And what Israel is going to do now is try to rally its support in the United States, in other countries and especially in congress to try to block this agreement by getting new sanctions imposed.