What a day this is for Kerry - historic talks with the Iranian FM and agreement on the Syria deal

[karynnj]

He must have been incredibly busy and it was a momentous day. It was Kerry and Lavrov who worked out the last problems remaining in the language.

The development was announced after hastily convened talks between the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. If the resolution is adopted, it would be the first legally binding resolution on the Syrian conflict. "

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/26/syria-chemical-weapons-un-resolution

The AP says :

"But the draft resolution, seen by The Associated Press, makes clear that there is no trigger for enforcement measures if Syria fails to comply. Instead, it states that the Security Council will "impose measures under Chapter 7 of the United Nations Charter," which will require a second resolution.
Chapter 7 allows for military and nonmilitary actions to promote peace and security. Russia, Syria's most powerful ally, had opposed any reference to it. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held hastily scheduled talks Thursday afternoon to resolve several last-minute disputes on the text."


Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/key-powers-agree-on-resolution-aimed-at-eliminating-syria-s-chemical-weapons-1.1472043#ixzz2g3YHPqDs

Then he was part of the group of foreign ministers to meet with the Iranian FM - followed by a one to one meeting - the highest such meeting since 1979.
Iran and the United States held their highest-level substantive talks in a generation on Thursday, saying the tone was positive but sounding cautious about resolving the long-running standoff over Iran's nuclear program.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met after the Iranian held wider talks with the United States and other major powers to address Western suspicions Iran may be trying to develop atomic weapons.

Diplomats from the major countries described the atmosphere of the wider talks in positive terms but they, as well as the U.S. and Iranian foreign ministers, stressed the difficulty of resolving a dispute that has eluded solution for a decade.

"We had a very constructive meeting," Kerry told reporters at the United Nations, where he and Zarif sat next to one another in a gesture that suggested a desire on both sides to explore how to ease their nations' more than three-decade estrangement.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/26/us-un-assembly-iran-idUSBRE98P0XE20130926