Moderator: We’ll take three questions today. The first will be from Paul Richter of the LA Times.
Question: Mr. Secretary, can you tell us what you told Prime Minister Maliki about the flow of Iranian arms through Iraq into Syria, and what specific commitment you got from him to try to start doing something about that?
Secretary Kerry: We had a very spirited discussion on the subject of the overflights. And I made it very clear that for those of us who are engaged in an effort to see President Assad step down and to see a democratic process take hold with a transitional government according to the Geneva Communiqué, for those of us engaged in that effort, anything that supports President Assad is problematic. And I made it very clear to the Prime Minister that the overflights from Iran are, in fact, helping to sustain President Assad and his regime.
So we agreed to try to provide more information with respect to this, but I also made it clear to him that there are members of Congress and people in America who increasingly are watching what Iraq is doing and wondering how it is that a partner in the efforts for democracy and a partner for whom Americans feel they have tried so hard to be helpful – how that country can be, in fact, doing something that makes it more difficult to achieve our common goals, the goal expressed by the Prime Minister with respect to Syria and President Assad.
So my hope is that we’ll be able to make some progress on this, and I’m taking some homework back to Washington with me, and I think the Prime Minister will have discussions here.
Moderator: The second question will be from Sohar Hamudi from Amar-Iraqiya.
Question: (In Arabic.)
Secretary Kerry: Just one minute, please.
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