"I will be absolutely, fully and totally engaged in those talks. I am now. I haven't missed a tick," Kerry told reporters. "And I'll be travelling over there at the appropriate moment in the next days in order to press forward at this critical moment in the negotiations. So there's a lot of work on the table."
US Secretary of State John Kerry said he was fully engaged in the Iran nuclear talks and would join them at the end of June as he left the hospital after treatment for a broken leg.
Kerry, 71, broke his right femur on May 31 while cycling a portion of the Tour de France route in the Haute Savoie region
of France, raising questions about how deeply he may be able to be involved in negotiations ahead of a self-imposed June 30 deadline.
Appearing in public for the first time since his injury, Kerry sought to dispel doubts about his involvement in the negotiations.
"I will be absolutely, fully and totally engaged in those talks. I am now. I haven't missed a tick," Kerry told reporters. "And I'll be travelling over there at the appropriate moment in the next days in order to press forward at this critical moment in the negotiations. So there's a lot of work on the table."
Kerry said he plans to join the talks after the June 22-24 strategic and economic dialogue talks with China in Washington.
"Afterwards, I will be leaving to go for the last slog on the Iran talks," Kerry told reporters as he left Massachusetts General Hospital, where he had surgery on June 2 to repair his broken leg.
One of the central questions after Kerry's fall was whether it would affect negotiations between Iran and six major powers
seeking to strike an agreement to curb Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.
"It's a tough slog. It's not easy," Kerry said of the Iran talks.
The United States and some of its allies suspect that Iran is using its civilian nuclear programme as a cover to develop a nuclear weapons capability. Iran denies this, saying its programme is for peaceful purposes such as making medical isotopes.
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