Secretary of State John Kerry compared his Iran nuclear deal negotiations with those of Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan and sounded petulant Friday admitting that he will "be embarrassed" if the deal he negotiated falls through, saying: "What am I going to say to people after this?"

"I mean, please," Kerry said. "I would be embarrassed to try to go out [and negotiate] after this."

"I mean, what am I going to say to people after this, as secretary of state, 'Come negotiate with us,'" Kerry said.

"'Oh can you deliver?'" Kerry said, imitating the other countries' response.

"Please," he snarked.

Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would not come back to the table if the deal falls through, Kerry claimed at the Council on Foreign Relations on Friday. "Do you think that they're going to sit there … [and] say 'Hey, let's go negotiate with the United States, they have 535 secretaries of state?'" he said, referencing the 535 members of Congress set to vote on the deal.

Kerry compared his negotiation with Nixon and Reagan, saying that "nobody could imagine" what happened as a result of those talks at that time. "A lot of things" could change in Iran in 15 years, he said.

"Nobody could imagine what happened with China when Nixon went," Kerry said. "People objected to Reagan negotiating with the Evil Empire. If you don't do these things, folks, you can't create change, you don't test possibilities."

"What I do know is this, if we turn our backs on this deal, folks, we're sending one hell of a message to hardliners in Iran," he said.

Kerry said that he told the Iranian negotiators that calling for the destruction of Israel and the chants of "death to America" are not helpful and are pretty stupid.

When asked whether he seriously believed that Iran is seeking this deal because it's interested in peaceful uses of nuclear energy, Kerry responded that Iran already has a program to get nuclear weapons: "the horse is out of the barn, on that one."

He claimed that the deal he negotiated is "rolling the program back" and that he believes that "Israel, the region, and the world are safer" with the deal.

"The choice is whether or not you are going to build up a system that gives you access and insight, or whether you decide that's not worth it, let's just go to war now," Kerry repeatedly asserted, as he similarly did Thursday on the Senate floor.

"So you know you can get – no bomb possible, for at least [15 years] and we respectively submit to people that it is forever" because the U.S. has 24/7 intelligence monitoring, Kerry said..

"I'm not telling you they might not cheat; I'm not telling you they might not try to do something on the side," he said. "I don't know. ... [But] we have the ability to know what they are doing."

"The president has made it clear that Iran will not get a nuclear weapon. He will use military force, if necessary," he said.

"A Middle East on fire is going to be more manageable with this deal," Kerry said.