Kerry in UAE to Discuss Iran, Syria

Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday defended US moves to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, saying it would protect Israel and stressing Tehran walked away from the deal.

Published

almost 3 years ago

Categories

US, World

Topics

United States, US Politics, World, Middle East & North Africa, Nuclear Nonproliferation, International Relations

People

John Kerry

Places

Syria, Iran, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Middle East, Jerusalem, Tehran, Abu Dhabi

Transcript

SHOTLIST ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, NOVEMBER 11, 2013. SOURCE: AFPTV SOUNDBITE 1 - John Kerry (man), US Secretary of State, (English, 15 sec): "We’ve been meeting constantly with the Israelis to understand exactly where Iran is today in its program and we are confident that what we are doing can actually protect Israel more effectively." SOUNDBITE 2 - John Kerry (man), US Secretary of State, (English, 10 sec): “Our hope is that in the next months we can find an agreement that meets everybody's standard.” -VAR of John Kerry arriving -VAR of journalists and the audience -VAR of the press Conference /// ------------------------------------------------------ AFP TEXT STORY: Kerry defends Geneva talks, says Iran walked out Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) 11 November 2013 AFP (Jo Biddle) Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday defended US moves to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, saying it would protect Israel and stressing Tehran walked away from the deal. His comments came as France said Monday that world powers were close to an agreement with Iran on its disputed nuclear drive, despite failure to reach a deal at crunch talks in Geneva on the weekend. Kerry's remarks also come as Israel and the US are locked in an bitter war of words over the negotiations to halt Iran's nuclear drive, which is believed to be a front for developing a military capability. “Our hope is that in the next months we can find an agreement that meets everyone’s standards,” Kerry told reporters in Abu Dhabi. "The P5+1 was unified on Saturday when we presented our proposal to the Iranians... But Iran couldn’t take it, at that particular moment they weren’t able to accept," he said. The top US diplomat insisted that a deal with the Islamic republic would protect Israel and other allies. "We are confident that what we are doing will protect Israel more effectively," he said. In recent days Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has furiously denounced the emerging agreement as "dangerous" while his defence minister, Moshe Yaalon, called it a "historical mistake." Kerry insisted that the United States has the interests of ally Israel at heart and that he shares Netanyahu's "deep concerns". "But I believe the prime minister needs to recognise that no agreement has been reached about the endgame here that's the subject of the negotiations," said Kerry. He said sanctions were imposed on Iran to force it to negotiate. "And if we had to turn to a military option, because we are left no other option, we must show the world we've exhausted every possible remedy and opportunity." 'War should be last resort' Israel, the region's sole if undeclared nuclear power, views a nuclear Iran as an existential threat and has said it will not be "bound" by any world deal with Tehran, refusing to rule out the threat of military action to halt it. Netanyahu has reached out to word leaders and to the American public to get his point across. "Iran gives practically nothing and it gets a hell of a lot. That's not a good deal," Netanyahu told CBS on Sunday. And in an speech to Jewish-American leaders in Jerusalem he added" "It is a bad and dangerous deal that deals with the thing that affects our survival. "And when it comes to the question of Jewish survival and the survival of the Jewish state, I will not be silenced." But Kerry insisted in Abu Dhabi that "war should be the last resort" to resolve the dispute with Iran and that no state has "existing right to enrich". President Barack Obama "has stated unequivocally that Iran will not get a nuclear weapon, that is a centrepiece of his foreign policy and he will not bluff," said Kerry. Representatives of Iran and six world powers gathered in Geneva with high expectations Thursday to try and hammer out a deal on Tehran's nuclear programme. The marathon talks ended three days later without an agreement, blamed by some media and off-the-record officials on French reservations on some parts of a draft deal on the negotiating table. Diplomats insist they are zeroing in on a deal to lift some of the crippling sanctions on Iran in return for the freezing of much of its nuclear programme. "We are not far from an agreement with the Iranians but we are not there yet," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Monday. The so-called P5+1 group -- the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany -- and Iran will reconvene in Geneva on November 20 to try and iron out differences and reach an accord. Negotiations over Iran's atomic activities had stalled for years, but the June election of President Hassan Rouhani -- seen as a relative moderate -- gave fresh momentum to the talks. But Kerry said there was "zero gap" between the US administration and "our commitment to our allies in the Gulf and the region" who, like the UAE, have reacted warily to a US-Iran rapprochement. Kerry heads home later Monday after an exhausting seven-nation tour.