There are now opportunities for foreign banks to do business with Iran ... Unfortunately there seems to be some confusion among some foreign banks and we want to try and clarify that.

John Kerry

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The fact is there is nothing, absolutely nothing, more demoralizing and disempowering to any citizen of any nation than the belief the system is rigged against them and that people in positions of power are -- to use a diplomatic term of art -- crooks who are stealing the future of their own people, it's everybody's responsibility to condemn and expose corruption, to hold perpetrators accountable and to replace a culture of corruption.

The struggle is far from over, but we are headed in the right dir... by John Kerry

The struggle is far from over, but we are headed in the right direction.

And I believe that, with effort and with bona-fide legitimate intent to solve the problem on both sides, it is possible in these next months to find those Minsk agreements implemented and to get to a place where sanctions can be appropriately, because of the full implementation, removed.

What they differ on, obviously, is how you will resolve the actual Assad-Syria problem, but they don't differ on wanting a united Syria, a Syria that is stable, a Syria that is peaceful, a Syria that resolves this problem, and that's why they've agreed to come to the table to put it to the test.

I think that some of it will end up in the hands of the IRGC or other entities, some of which are labeled terrorists, i'm not going to sit here and tell you that every component of that can be prevented.

You're not going to have a situation where people are sitting down at the table staring at each other or shouting at each other, you're going to have to build some process here, and that's what will begin.

I think he recognized that the fight's over and we can move on. by John Kerry

I think he recognized that the fight's over and we can move on.

We will always stand by Israel and we continue to support Israel as firmly as any administration in history.

All of them are Iranian-American families. by John Kerry

All of them are Iranian-American families.

I raised it immediately with the Iranians. It was not put out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the government directly, it was put out I think by the military over there, the (Revolutionary Guard), who is opposed to what we are doing. the challenge is three or four years ago, we wouldn't have known who to call ... and it could have grown into a major kind of hostage confrontation the way it had previously.

I was very angry. I was very, very frustrated and angry that that... by John Kerry

I was very angry. I was very, very frustrated and angry that that was released.

I'm not going to discuss what I said or didn't say, but suffice it to say I made it crystal clear how serious this was, it was imperative to get it solved ... and within hours we had an agreement.

I have raised them in all of our sessions. We've had a lot of conversations. We are continuing those conversations now. And I am hopeful that the day will come soon, obviously sooner rather than later, but soon, when all of our citizens can come home.

Implementation Day – which is the day on which Iran proves it has sufficiently downsized its nuclear program and can begin to receive sanctions relief – is going to take place very soon, likely within the next coming days.

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I think we can all imagine how a similar situation might have pla... by John Kerry

I think we can all imagine how a similar situation might have played out three or four years ago.

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China had a particular approach that it wanted to make, that we agreed and respected to give them space to implement that, today in my conversation with the Chinese I made it very clear that has not worked and we cannot continue business as usual.

If there had been a penalty, we wouldn’t have gotten an agreement, so it has to be voluntary. We got the best deal we could.

I think it actually sends a big powerful message to the marketplace, a lot of jobs are being created.

We need to make certain, given the new circumstances that we're facing, that there is no potential loophole whatsoever, obviously it has to be fail-safe, and that's what the American people need and deserve.

We need to have an agreement somewhat in shape by Thursday if we're going to meet the needs of Friday, and I think everybody wants to try to get this done.