Kerry: US to push for expanded admittance of refugees

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Gulf Arab countries in Saudi Arabia on Saturday for talks aimed at pushing the Syrian peace process forward and calming their concern about the worldwide agreement over Iran’s nuclear programme.

Kerry said President Obama will host a summit at the United Nations in the fall with the aim of securing a 30% increase in humanitarian aid for refugees and to expand the number of countries admitting them “in a way that protects the security of our countries”.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the goal of the meeting, to be held on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, would also be to at least double the number of refugees who are resettled or let in to other countries.

In an interview from Davos, Italy, from the World Economic Forum on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, Kerry was asked if he believed if any of the $55 billion of sanctions relief could end up in the hands of terrorists. The U.S. also wants to increase the number of child refugees in school and the number of refugees legally allowed to work by 1 million each. “I can’t tell you how many leaders, as I traveled through certain areas, told me, ‘You’ve got to bomb it, ‘” Kerry told the audience of politicians and business leaders.

“The United States remains concerned about some of the activities that Iran is engaged in in other countries”, Kerry said, pointing to continued USA sanctions over Iran’s support for terrorist groups like Hezbollah, its human rights record and its development of ballistic missiles.

Before leaving Switzerland, Kerry said the rivalry remained a concern.

Those feelings crystallised with the historic global deal which this month lifted crippling economic sanctions on Iran in return for a scaling back of its nuclear capabilities.

Iran has frequently said its nuclear energy program has been purely peaceful and has rejected Western claims that it was pursuing nuclear weapons.

Kerry says US sanctions against Iran and other nations have been “used judiciously and effectively” and will continue to be used in the future.

Although both Riyadh and Tehran have said the mutual animosity won’t affect the Syria talks, there are still serious disagreements over who can represent the opposition at the negotiations, which were initially supposed to begin on Monday but are likely to be delayed for several days.

Kerry said the Obama administration obviously wishes the rhetoric were otherwise, but noted that Tehran says it is responding to American criticism.

“Relations between the US and the GCC are based on interest and mutual defense; I think there is no doubt among the Gulf States… that the USA will stand with the Gulf States against any external threat”, Kerry said.