US Secretary of State thanks NZ for role in Iran deal

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and New Zealander Foreign Minister Murray McCully. Photo / Supplied by US Department of State

Foreign Minister Murray McCully said he thanked US Secretary of State John Kerry today in Washington for his "patient and effective diplomacy" in putting the Iran nuclear deal together.

Mr Kerry in turn thanked New Zealand for its stewardship of the resolution backing the deal unanimously through the UN Security Council, which Mr McCully chaired during the Iran resolution last week.

The deal sets out steps to curb Iran's nuclear weapon-making capacity in return for easing of sanctions imposed by the council.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and New Zealander Foreign Minister Murray McCully address the media. Photo / Supplied by US Department of State

Mr McCully met Mr Kerry at the State Department this morning - Monday afternoon Washington time.

"I made it clear that in addition to the unanimity of the council's support for the resolution, there was also a level of hope expressed in the debate last week that it would enable a resetting or relationships in the Middle East that might create space for solutions to some of the other challenges and conflicts in the region." Mr McCully told nzherald.co.nz a short time ago.

"He concurred with that."

The pair discussed Syria because it will feature strongly on the Security Council agenda this week.

"We compared notes basically about where we saw that going in the UN environment."

They talked about Iraq and also what might happen in the Middle East Peace Process after the US Congress has dealt with the Iran issue.

"I wouldn't want to say too much about that other than we had a pretty thorough discussion about the dynamics in the Middle East and agreed that the situation there will require attention once the Iran has passed through their congressional process."