Kerry to visit Middle East, Moldova and attend NATO talks

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Jerusalem and Ramallah next week to discuss Israeli-Palestinian peace and to consult Israeli officials about Iran, the State Department said on Wednesday. During his trip from December 3 to December 6, Kerry will attend an annual meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels and will become the first secretary of State to visit Moldova in more than two decades. Kerry had planned to visit Israel last week but postponed the trip and traveled instead to Geneva, where six major powers and Iran reached an interim agreement that would constrain the Iranian nuclear program in return for limited sanctions relief. The agreement has drawn sharp criticism from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who described it as a "historic mistake" and expressed fears that the lifting of some sanctions would make it easier for Tehran to pursue a covert nuclear weapons program.

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