Kerry to quit politics: ‘This is my last stop’ Read more: Kerry to quit politics

US secretary of state tells CNN that he won’t seek the presidency in 2016

US Secretary of State John Kerry dropped a bombshell Wednesday saying that he has “no plans whatsoever” to run for the presidency in 2016.

In an interview with CNN, Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, said he intends to retire from politics following his term as America’s top diplomat.

“I’m out of politics. I have no plans whatsoever. This is my last stop,” Kerry told CNN’s Jake Tapper.

Kerry has placed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict front and center on the State Department’s agenda, making 11 trips to the region since taking the reigns from his predecessor, Hillary Clinton. The secretary has come under heavy criticism recently in Israel for warning that Israel faces the serious threat of a widespread boycott and delegitimization campaign if current talks with the Palestinians don’t yield results. Those talks began in July and are scheduled to end in April, with no concrete results in sight thus far.

Some in Israel cynically posited that Kerry was hoping to use success with the peace process as a springboard to launching another presidential bid, or at the very least, that he would be happy to come away with a Nobel peace prize.

The secretary put those suggestions to rest, for now. ”I’m going to serve the country in the extraordinarily privileged position the president has given me, the great challenges that I have, and move on,” he said.

Read more: Kerry to quit politics: 'This is my last stop' | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/kerry-to-quit-politics-this-is-my-last-stop/#ixzz2sUaC3JNT Follow us: @timesofisrael on Twitter | timesofisrael on Facebook