Kerry, out of Hospital, Says He'll soon Head to Iran Talks

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry -- upon his release from hospital after breaking his leg -- insisted Friday he would soon head to Vienna as the deadline to finalize an Iran nuclear deal approaches.

"I talked to our team in Vienna. I will be absolutely fully and totally engaged in those talks. I am now. I haven't missed a tick," Kerry -- on crutches -- told reporters as he left Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

"I will be traveling over there at the appropriate moment in the next days in order to press forward at this critical moment of the negotiations," said the visibly tired Kerry.

The 71-year-old Kerry broke his right femur on May 31 in a fall on his bicycle in the French Alps during a working visit to Geneva for talks with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tehran's nuclear program.

He was flown home and underwent surgery in Boston on June 2.

In April, Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany agreed in the Swiss city of Lausanne to the outlines of a deal aimed at ending the decade-old standoff over Iran's nuclear program.

According to this framework, due to be finalized by June 30, Iran will dramatically scale down its nuclear activities in order to render any dash to making nuclear weapons all but impossible.

In return, Iran, which denies wanting nuclear weapons, will see painful sanctions lifted by the six powers -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

Negotiations resumed Thursday in Vienna, but Russia's negotiator said there has been a "very worrying" slowdown in progress.

Kerry was expected to rest throughout the weekend in Boston.