Barack Obama

After closed-door meetings on Capitol Hill Wednesday, Kerry said President Barack Obama has made it clear that the U.S. wants to take a leadership role on humanitarian issues.

"We are looking hard at the number that we can specifically manage with respect to the crisis in Syria and Europe," he said. "That's being vetted fully right now."

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's statements underscored his lingering distrust of the United States and hostility toward Israel as the U.S. Congress prepares to vote on the landmark nuclear agreement reached with Tehran in July.

U.S. President Barack Obama appears to have secured enough support from Democrats to prevent the Republican-led Congress from derailing the deal, but Khamenei's latest remarks were likely to be seized upon by critics of the agreement as proof that Iran cannot be trusted.

In an interview with The Associated Press during a Labor Day campaign swing through Iowa, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination also said the lingering questions about her email practices while serving as President Barack Obama's first secretary of state have not damaged her campaign.

Obama will bestow the honors on 18 people and three institutions during a White House ceremony on Thursday.

Field, of Los Angeles, is receiving an arts medal for showing dignity, empathy and fearlessness in performances that have touched audiences worldwide, as well as for showing those same qualities in her off-screen advocacy for women, LGBT rights and public health.

King, of Bangor, Maine, is also receiving an arts medal for combining storytelling with analysis of human nature, and for thrilling readers through decades of work.

The setback came Friday in the announcement from Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, that he opposes the deal, which he said "legitimizes Iran's nuclear program."

His remarks, read aloud by a state TV anchorman, mark the first official comment on the deal since U.S. President Barack Obama secured enough support to prevent the Republican-led Congress from blocking it.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has yet to express a clear opinion on the deal clinched in July, which would curb Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for relief from crippling sanctions.

Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland became the crucial 34th vote in favour of the agreement.

"No deal is perfect, especially one negotiated with the Iranian regime," Mikulski said in a statement. She called the accord "the best option available to block Iran from having a nuclear bomb. For these reasons, I will vote in favor of this deal."

Democratic Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Chris Coons of Delaware on Tuesday became the 32nd and 33rd senators to announce support for the deal, just one shy of the 34 votes needed to uphold an Obama veto of Republican legislation aimed at blocking the agreement.