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Kerry: Air Conditioners as Big a Threat as ISIS

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Secretary of State John Kerry said in Vienna on Friday that air conditioners and refrigerators are as big of a threat to life as the threat of terrorism posed by groups like the Islamic State.

The Washington Examiner reported that Kerry was in Vienna to amend the 1987 Montreal Protocol that would phase out hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, from basic household and commercial appliances like air conditioners, refrigerators, and inhalers.

“As we were working together on the challenge of [ISIS] and terrorism,” Kerry said. “It’s hard for some people to grasp it, but what we–you–are doing here right now is of equal importance because it has the ability to literally save life on the planet itself.”

Kerry said that most of the substances banned in the Montreal Protocol have increased the use of HFCs and claimed that the coolant was thousands of times more potent than CO2. He added that the increase of HFCs has led to the trend of global climate change.

“The use of hydrofluorocarbons is unfortunately growing,” Kerry said. “Already, the HFCs use in refrigerators, air conditioners, and other items are emitting an entire gigaton of carbon dioxide-equivalent pollution into the atmosphere annually. Now, if that sounds like a lot, my friends, it’s because it is. It’s the equivalent to emissions from nearly 300 coal-fired power plants every single year.” (Read more from “Kerry: Air Conditioners as Big a Threat as ISIS” HERE)

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WATCH: John Kerry ADMITS We Are Giving Money to Terrorists

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By Matthew Lee. It’s likely that some of the billions of dollars in sanctions relief granted to Iran under a landmark nuclear deal will go to groups deemed to be terrorists, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday. But, he added, he doesn’t believe Iran will be able to use the freed-up cash to boost funding of malign activities if it is serious about revamping its economy.

Kerry said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum the U.S. or others can do little to prevent the now-unfrozen assets from getting into the hands of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps or “other entities” that Iran has supported in the past. But since nuclear-related sanctions were lifted on Iran last weekend, Kerry said, there is no evidence yet to suggest such transfers have occurred.

“I think that some of it will end up in the hands of the IRGC or other entities, some of which are labeled terrorists,” he told CNBC television in an interview. “You know, to some degree, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that every component of that can be prevented. But I can tell you this: Right now, we are not seeing the early delivery of funds going to that kind of endeavor at this point in time.” (Read more from “John Kerry Just Confirmed We Are Giving Money to Terrorists” HERE)

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Congress Moves to Block Payment to Iran of $1.7 Billion in Taxpayer Funds

By Adam Kredo. Congress is considering legislation that would bar the Obama administration from moving forward on a cash payment to Iran of $1.7 billion in taxpayer funds, according to a copy of the legislation provided to the Washington Free Beacon.

Obama administration officials confirmed to the Free Beacon earlier Thursday that it is using a taxpayer-funded account to pay Iran $1.7 billion as part of a settlement agreement reached with the Islamic Republic ahead of the release of five imprisoned Americans.

Critics of the agreement allege that the administration agreed to the payment to spur Iran to release the five Americans, who were freed over the weekend.

The news has sparked outrage on Capitol Hill and prompted Sen. Jerry Moran (R., Kan.) to file legislation Thursday afternoon that would bar the administration from moving forward on the payment until Iran pays millions in judgments awarded to the U.S. victims of its global terrorist network, according to the bill.

“The United States should not be funding governments that openly violate human rights, proudly disregard U.N. Security Council resolutions, and call for the destruction of America and its allies,” Moran said in a statement. “This bill directs the U.S. government to put justice for American victims of Iranian terrorism ahead of compensation for the Iranian regime.” (Read more from “Congress Moves to Block Payment to Iran of $1.7 Billion in Taxpayer Funds” HERE)

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Kerry Says Paris Agreement Crafted to Avoid Congress

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Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday the climate agreement reached this week in Paris did not contain any enforcement provisions because Congress would not have approved them.

“It doesn’t have mandatory targets for reduction and it doesn’t have an enforcement, compliance mechanism,” Kerry said during an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”

Kerry said such mechanisms were not included because Congress would have refused to greenlight the deal.

Binding legal requirements would have made the Paris agreement a treaty, requiring approval from two-thirds of the Senate. Because no climate change measure could close to the high bar in the chamber, the Paris deal was written to avoid it.

Kerry also said he hopes the climate agreement will send “a very powerful message to the marketplace” about where they should place their energy investments. (Read more from “Kerry Says Paris Agreement Crafted to Avoid Congress” HERE)

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John Kerry Predicts Millions of ‘Climate Refugees’ Will Need ‘Special Status’

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Secretary of State John Kerry warns the world that more and more people will be fleeing the devastation caused by global warming. “It’s something new. We have climate refugees today,” he said during a town hall event about the oceans.

Kerry described climate refugees as people who had to leave their homes because of drought, rising sea levels, and thawing permafrost.

“[T]he day could come, if we don’t respond rapidly, you could have millions of climate refugees. You could have people moving from whole areas where today you can grow things and tomorrow you can’t,” he said.

He remarked that more world leaders had begun to talk about this rising threat in many of his international meetings, although he admitted that the issue was not yet a “crescendo.”

International organizations, like the United Nations, he admitted, would have to codify the term “climate refugee” and put it into law. That would grant special immigration privileges to immigrants claiming refugee status, allowing them to move to other countries. (Read more from “John Kerry Predicts Millions of ‘Climate Refugees’ Will Need ‘Special Status'” HERE)

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Kerry: Assad Has to Go, but Timing Can Be Negotiated

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000_DV2130215-e1442664562452-635x357Syrian President Bashar Assad must leave office although the timing of such a move can be negotiated, US Secretary of State John Kerry said in London on Saturday, following talks with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.

Kerry urged Russia and Iran, two key allies, to persuade Assad to negotiate his departure, Reuters said. The top US diplomat also expressed the urgency in finding a political solution to the four-year civil war in Syria, which has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions more displaced.

“We need to get to the negotiation. That is what we’re looking for and we hope Russia and Iran, and any other countries with influence, will help to bring about that, because that’s what is preventing this crisis from ending,” Kerry said. “We’re prepared to negotiate. Is Assad prepared to negotiate, really negotiate? Is Russia prepared to bring him to the table?”

Kerry on Friday also stressed the urgency with which he views finding a resolution to the conflict, saying ahead of a meeting with the United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed in London that, “this (Syria) crisis has got to be solved.”

American and Russian defense chiefs held their first talks in more than a year on Friday, in a 50-minute conversation that was the first step in direct military talks proposed by Russia about Moscow’s military buildup to support the Syrian government against the Islamic State group. (Read more from “Kerry: Assad Has to Go, but Timing Can Be Negotiated” HERE)

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Kerry Promises Israel, Saudis Money in Wake of Iran Nuclear Deal

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John KerrySecretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday moved to reassure Congress that Israel and America’s Gulf State allies would be fully taken care of in the wake of the Iran nuclear deal, which Kerry acknowledged would not stop Iran’s support for terrorism, according to a letter sent by the secretary of state to lawmakers.

Just moments after the White House secured enough votes to override a congressional veto of the Iran deal, a letter from Kerry appeared in the inboxes of congressional offices across Capitol Hill.

Kerry admits that, despite the deal, Iran will continue to back terrorist groups across the globe and promises to boost military support and funding to Israel and Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The letter comes in response to concerns among lawmakers, Israel, and other Gulf region allies that the nuclear accord will boost the Islamic Republic’s support for terrorism, while leaving traditional U.S. allies on the defense.

“Important questions have been raised concerning the need to increase security assistance to our allies and partners in the region and to enhance our efforts to counter Iran’s destabilizing activities in the region,” Kerry writes. “We share the concern expressed by many in Congress regarding Iran’s continued support for terrorist and proxy groups throughout the region, its propping up of the Assad regime in Syria, its efforts to undermine the stability of its regional neighbors, and the threat it poses to Israel.” (Read more from “Kerry Promises Israel, Saudis Money in Wake of Iran Nuclear Deal” HERE)

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Iranian Senior Officials Disclose Confidential Details From Nuclear Negotiations

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downloadIranian officials recently began to reveal details from the nuclear negotiations with the U.S. since their early stages. Their statements indicate that the U.S. initiated secret negotiations with Iran not after President Hassan Rohani, of the pragmatic camp, was elected in 2013, but rather in 2011-2012, in the era of radical president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The disclosures also indicate that, already at that time, Iran received from the U.S. administration a letter recognizing its right to enrich uranium on its own soil. Hossein Sheikh Al-Islam, an advisor to the Majlis speaker, specified that the letter had come from John Kerry, then a senator and head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Iranian vice president and top negotiator Ali Akbar Salehi said that Kerry, while still a senator, had been appointed by President Obama to handle the nuclear contacts with Iran.

The following are initial details from these disclosures; a full translation is pending.

Khamenei: Bilateral Talks Began In 2011, Were Based On U.S. Recognition Of Nuclear Iran

In a speech he delivered on June 23, 2015, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that the American administration had initiated the nuclear talks with Iran during Ahmadinejad’s term in office, based on a U.S. recognition of a nuclear Iran: “The issue of negotiating with the Americans is related to the term of the previous [Ahmadinejad] government, and to the dispatching of a mediator to Tehran to request talks. At the time, a respected regional figure came to me as a mediator [referring to Omani Sultan Qaboos] and explicitly said that U.S. President [Obama] had asked him to come to Tehran and present an American request for negotiations. The Americans told this mediator: ‘We want to solve the nuclear issue and lift sanctions within six months, while recognizing Iran as a nuclear power.’ I told that mediator that I did not trust the Americans and their words, but after he insisted, I agreed to reexamine this topic, and negotiations began” . . .

In an interview with the Tasnim news agency on July 7, 2015, Hossein Sheikh Al-Islam, an advisor to Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani, said that John Kerry had relayed a letter to Tehran recognizing Iran’s enrichment rights: “We came to the [secret] negotiations [with the U.S.] after Kerry wrote a letter and sent it to us via Oman, stating that America officially recognizes Iran’s rights regarding the [nuclear fuel] enrichment cycle. Then there were two meetings in Oman between the [Iranian and U.S.] deputy foreign ministers, and after those, Sultan Qaboos was dispatched by Obama to Khamenei with Kerry’s letter. Khamenei told him: ‘I don’t trust them.’ Sultan Qaboos said: ‘Trust them one more time.’ On this basis the negotiations began, and not on the basis of sanctions, as they [the Americans] claim in their propaganda.” (Read more from “Iranian Senior Officials Disclose Confidential Details From Nuclear Negotiations” HERE)

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Kerry: We Can’t Reveal Contents of Secret Side Deals to American People [+video]

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By Daniel Halper. Secretary of State John Kerry testified on Capitol Hill [yesterday] the U.S. government will not be revealing the contents of secret side deals with Iran to the American people. Senator Tom Cotton wanted to know why it can’t be made public.

Watch the exchange:

“I’d like to stick with you, Secretary Kerry,” Cotton said. “Why can’t we confirm or deny the content of these agreements in public? Why is this classified? It’s not a sensitive U.S. government document.” (Read more from “Kerry: We Can’t Reveal Contents of Secret Side Deals to American People” HERE)

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Congress: Nuke Deal Loopholes Bolster Illicit Iranian-N. Korean Alliance

By Adam Kredo. Iran’s nuclear relationship with North Korea is likely to grow due to a recent nuclear accord, according to experts and members of Congress, who warned in a hearing that loopholes in the deal would facilitate illicit trade between the rogue countries.

Iran and North Korea have long cooperated on the nuclear front, sharing nuclear technology and ballistic missile construction plans. Reports over the years have indicated that Iranian officials were present for missile launchings in North Korea and that officials from both countries remain in close contact.

Other reports have indicated that Iran houses parts of its nuclear infrastructure within North Korea in order to hide progress and perform testing away from Western inspectors.

While the nuclear deal is meant to dampen such ties, lawmakers and experts warned Tuesday that the deal contains a range of loopholes that will help Tehran and Pyongyang race forward with their nuclear cooperation.

The nuclear accord “creates conditions and incentives that are highly likely to result in the expansion of what is already an extensive and profoundly dangerous Iran-North Korea partnership in proliferation,” Claudia Rosett, journalist-in-residence for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), testified before lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. (Read more from “Congress: Nuke Deal Loopholes Bolster Illicit Iranian-N. Korean Alliance” HERE)

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You’ll Never Guess What a Reporter Says John Kerry’s Response to a Nuke Deal Was

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry testifies at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee while on Capitol Hill in WashingtonSecretary of State John Kerry allegedly responded in a most unusual way to a reporter’s question Friday whether a nuclear arms deal could be reached with Iran before the March 31 deadline.

“Allah willing,” Kerry replied — in Arabic, according to Laura Rozen, a reporter covering the Iran nuclear talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, for the Washington, D.C.-based online publication, Al-Monitor.

As news reached the public Friday that a deal may be forthcoming, Rozen tweeted:

Friend of colleague ran into @JohnKerry at chocolate shop tdy. She said friends in #Iran are looking forward to deal. He said ‘inshallah’

— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) March 27, 2015

“Inshallah” is Arabic for “Allah willing,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. (Read more from “You’ll Never Guess What a Reporter Says John Kerry’s Response to a Nuke Deal Was” HERE)

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Despite Refusing to Meet With Netanyahu, Biden and Kerry Had No Problem Meeting With This Left-Wing Israeli Politician

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US Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry both met informally with Zionist Camp co-leader Isaac Herzog — head of the Labor Party and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief rival in the Israeli elections — on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich, Germany on Saturday

Their discussions reportedly revolved around security matters and the Zionist Camp’s defense strategy.

The meetings were not formally scheduled, and no photographs were immediately issued.

Herzog also met with the EU’s Foreign Affairs Chief Federica Mogherini and German FM Frank-Walter Steinmeier on the sidelines of the conference.

The Biden-Kerry meetings with Herzog came a day after Biden’s office said the vice president would be abroad and would not attend a contentious speech on Iran Netanyahu is set to deliver to Congress on March 3. Netanyahu’s planned address has infuriated the Obama administration, which accused the Israeli leader of breaching protocol as the visit was not coordinated with the White House. Both Kerry and President Barack Obama said last month that they would not meet with Netanyahu during the visit, citing its proximity to the March 17 elections. (Read more about Joe Biden and John Kerry meeting with the Israeli politician HERE)

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