Tapper Presses Moniz, Kerry on Why American Hostages Weren’t Included in Deal

State of the Union host Jake Tapper pressed Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz Sunday morning on why four US. hostages being held in Iran were not part of the tensely-negotiated nuclear deal concluded last week.

“I think the part of the agreement that is absolutely critical is that, of course, which allows us to a) prevent a weapon and to have visibility into any activity in this direction,” Moniz said. “With regard to the Americans unjustly held or missing, again, [in] every meeting, this was always raised, and remains an area of considerable focus.”

RELATED: Sec. Kerry: We Never Said Anything About ‘Anytime, Anywhere’ Inspections

Tapper played a clip of Moniz from several months ago, in which the secretary denied the hostages could be part of the deal as it was limited to discussions of Iran’s nuclear program. Nonetheless, Iran got to include a lifting of its arms embargo at the last minute, leaving some, including CBS News’ Major Garrett, to wonder why the U.S. didn’t try to pull the same.

“The arms embargo is something that was directly tied to the nuclear performance,” Moniz said.

“It was already in there,” Kerry affirmed. “The arms embargo, and the missile were put in when 1929 the resolution was passed.”

Watch below, via CNN:

[Image via screengrab]

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