US insists Kerry's broken leg won't hinder Iran talks
Secretary of State John Kerry returned to Boston Monday for surgery on his broken leg, as US officials insisted his injury would not hinder his participation in nuclear negotiations with Iran.
With an end-of-June deadline for an Iranian deal fast approaching, the 71-year-old Kerry left Geneva aboard a U.S. military plane accompanied by his orthopedic surgeon, Dennis Burke, and additional medical personnel. Officials said Burke is expected in the coming days to perform surgery on Kerry's right femur, which Kerry fractured Sunday in a bicycle accident when he struck a curb and fell on a regular Tour de France route located southeast of the Swiss city.
The State Department said that Kerry is committed "to pursuing an aggressive recovery schedule" and had spent much of Sunday and Monday on the phone with colleagues, including President Barack Obama and counterparts, including the French, Spanish and Iranian foreign ministers. Kerry had spent six hours with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamad Javad Zarif on Saturday in Geneva before his bike accident.
