Washington---Top diplomat John Kerry remains focused on nailing down a nuclear deal with Iran and plans to join the final negotiations in late June despite breaking his leg in a cycling accident, US officials said Monday.
The globe-trotting Kerry arrived back in Boston from Geneva on a military C-17 plane accompanied by his personal doctor late Monday and was heading "directly to Massachusetts General Hospital for further treatment," his spokesman John Kirby said.
His fall on Sunday in the French Alps comes as America juggles multiple foreign policy challenges, but was unlikely to derail the Iran talks, observers said.
The lanky 71-year-old, who is an experienced cyclist, broke his right femur on Sunday when his bike hit a curb as he started on a climb of a tricky, steep mountain pass near the French town of Chamonix.
Deputy State Department spokeswoman, Marie Harf, said Kerry was in "good spirits" Monday and had spoken to several European counterparts to apologize for cancelling stops in Madrid and Paris
"He's committed to an aggressive, ambitious, and responsible recovery timeline," she told reporters.
"Look fwd to getting leg set & getting back to @StateDept!" Kerry said in a message on his Twitter account, using the hastag #Onward.
Another State Department official, who asked not to be named, confirmed Kerry will have to undergo surgery.
But doctors told AFP that in such cases a patient could be up and walking within three to four days, and would be expected to make a full recovery in two months.
Already Kerry is planning to "remotely" join a conference on combating militants from the Islamic State (IS) group which he had been scheduled to attend on Tuesday in Paris.
AFP
