House insisting that America's chief diplomat had not been put out of action.
Kerry, 71, a keen cyclist, was
hospitalised in the Swiss city of Geneva -- where he was meeting his
Iranian opposite number Mohammad Javad Zarif -- after the accident
across the border in the French Alps on Sunday.
But
White House spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki, who used to work for Kerry at
the State department, claimed the accident would not slow down the
globetrotting envoy.
"I would
love to see anyone at the hospital try to stop John Kerry from
negotiating and working while recovering from breaking his leg," she
tweeted.
Kerry was initially
expected to return to the United States on Sunday evening, but the State
Department later announced the flight had been postponed.
"The
Secretary had planned on flying back to the US this evening, but after
further consultation it was sensible for him to remain in the hospital
for observation overnight for purely precautionary measures and fly home
tomorrow," spokesman John Kirby said.
He added that Kerry was "in great spirits and active", and had spoken by phone with President Barack Obama.
Kerry's
fall happened after he had just set out on a planned ride of one of the
stages of the Tour de France, the challenging Col de la Colombiere
mountain pass, a local source said.
The
top US diplomat, who had been holding talks in Switzerland Saturday on
the Iran nuclear crisis, broke his right femur in his fall in the
village of Scionzier near Chamonix.
He
has had to cancel both a trip to Spain and his attendance at an
international meeting in Paris on the crisis over the Islamic State
group, Kirby said.
He added
however that Kerry planned to "remotely" join Tuesday's Paris talks,
which are aimed at reviewing the international coalition's strategy
against the jihadists, who have seized swathes of territory in Iraq and
Syria.
The State Department said Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken will lead the US delegation at the Paris talks instead.
"The
secretary is stable and never lost consciousness, his injury is not
life-threatening, and he is expected to make a full recovery," Kirby
said in a statement earlier Sunday.
- 'He loves France and cycling' -
"Given
the injury is near the site of his prior hip surgery, he will return to
Boston... to seek treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital with his
doctor who did the prior surgery."
A
senior State Department official told CNN on Sunday that US surgeon
Dennis Burke, who performed a past hip surgery on Kerry, was heading to
Switzerland and would accompany him back to America.
Kerry had asked local officials in eastern France's Haute-Savoie to organise the trip in the beautiful Alpine region.
"He
had expressed a wish, a few days ago, to complete a stage of the Tour
de France passing through the Col de la Colombiere. The hill is very
well-known for its difficulty, and because he loves France and cycling,
he decided to climb it on his bicycle," the local source said.
"He fell accidentally, like all other cyclists have at some point."
Kerry was flown by helicopter to the Geneva University Hospital after the accident, which occurred around 9:40 am (0740 GMT).
"Paramedics and a physician were on the scene with the secretary's motorcade at the time of the accident," Kirby said.
Another State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Kerry fell after hitting a kerb.
Kerry
held talks Saturday in Geneva with his Iranian counterpart Zarif as
part of international efforts to secure a nuclear deal ahead of a June
30 deadline.
The talks did not go into a second day as planned after Tehran rejected a key Western demand for site inspections.There are heightened diplomatic moves to try to end a 12-year international standoff and put a nuclear bomb beyond Iran's reach.
During
breaks in the marathon negotiations, Kerry has often headed out of his
hotel to ride his bike -- which he usually brings along on his foreign
missions -- accompanied by a posse of security guards.
Kerry had been scheduled to leave late Sunday afternoon for Madrid.
Spain
and the United States were to formalise an agreement under which Spain
will host a permanent force of 2,200 US Marines for deployment on
missions to Africa.
Source: AFP
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