US, Australian ministers discuss Syria, Mideast, Iran, Afghanistan

Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel discussed diplomatic efforts on Syria, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Iran and Afghanistan during the annual U.S. -Australian Ministerial on Wednesday "Today we discussed our shared efforts to reach a political solution with respect to the conflict in Syria," Kerry said following the signing of a Statement of Principles. "We both share the goal of realizing a peaceful resolution not just for the Syrian conflict through the Geneva discussions, but also for the longstanding conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, and our efforts, all of us, to try to reach a constructive and acceptable agreement with respect to the threat of a nuclear weapon in Iran," Kerry said. "We agreed on each of these that diplomacy is always the preferred approach, and that it is important to exhaust the remedies and possibilities of diplomacy," he said. "We have the best chance we have had in a decade, we believe, to halt progress and roll back Iran's (nuclear) program, and I made clear to our friends from Australia, as I have made clear to my former colleagues in meetings on Capitol Hill over this last week, we will not allow this agreement, should it be reached -- and I say should it be reached -- to buy time or to allow for the acceptance of an agreement that does not properly address our core fundamental concerns," Kerry said. Both sides reconfirmed and restated their commitment to completing the transfer of security responsibility to the Afghan National Security Forces by the end of 2014, Kerry said. "I am pleased to say that in a series of conversations with (Afghan) President (Hamid) Karzai in the course of this morning, even interrupting some of our conversations, that we reached an agreement as to the final language of the bilateral security agreement that will be placed before the Loya Jirga tomorrow," Kerry said, referring to the gathering of more than 2,500 Afghan elders and officials in Kabul.