- Title: Kerry says Iran nuclear deal has made world safer, rejecting Trump criticism
- Date: 5th December 2016
- Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (DECEMBER 5, 2016) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF GERMANY'S FOREIGN MINISTRY WHERE AWARD CEREMONY FOR U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, WAS HELD VARIOUS OF GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER, FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER, AND HIS AMERICAN COUNTERPART, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY, ARRIVING TO APPLAUSE / AUDIENCE WIDE OF KERRY SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, SAYING: "Let there be no doubt anywhere: the region is safer, Germany and the United States are safer, Europe is safer, Israel is safer and the world is safer because Iran's pathways to a nuclear weapon were blocked -- and might I add -- with Iran's consent and participation and with their willingness to fill their plutonium reactor with concrete, with their willingness to take down their centrifuges, to lower their stockpile, to limit their enrichment. So this depends on all of us to keep this alive and I know that President Obama has already engaged in conversations with the president-elect (Donald Trump) and we will work as diligently as we can to impart to the incoming team the absolute urgency of keeping that and other agreements intact." AUDIENCE LISTENING KERRY SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, SAYING: "So I believe deeply and I intend to speak out on this after I am secretary that we need to think about our interests, all of us. There is no 'over there' anymore. It's all connected. And we have learned in these last years, with 9/11, with Paris, with many other sad locations from Ankara to Middle East and elsewhere, that it comes home if you don't pay attention to those young people who need jobs and who need their aspirations fulfilled just as much as everybody else." KERRY SPEAKING WOMAN IN AUDIENCE TAKING PICTURE VARIOUS OF KERRY RECEIVING GERMANY'S HIGHEST HONOUR, THE "GRAND CROSS, FIRST CLASS OF THE ORDER OF MERIT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY" FROM STEINMEIER CAMERAMAN (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, SAYING: "One of the last times the foreign minister presented me with anything it was a Swiss army knife with two tags attached. And one read 'hard power' and was tied to the blade. And the other was 'soft power' and it was connected to the cork screw. So since we were at dinner, we got started on soft power, folks." KERRY SPEAKING
- Embargoed: 20th December 2016 18:56
- Keywords: Germany USA Steinmeier Kerry award Berlin
- Location: BERLIN, GERMANY
- City: BERLIN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Reuters ID: LVA0015BLX0ZR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday (December 5) Iran's nuclear agreement with world powers last year had made the world safer, rejecting U.S. President-elect Donald Trump references to the pact as a "disaster" and "the worst deal ever negotiated".
"The region is safer, Germany and the United States are safer, Europe is safer, Israel is safer and the world is safer... It depends on all of us to keep this alive," Kerry said at an event at which he was awarded the German Order of Merit.
He added that President Barack Obama had already approached Trump about the matter. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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