Reuters- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday Iran's nuclear agreement with world powers last year had made the world safer, rejecting U.S. President-elect Donald Trump references to the pact as a "disaster" and "the worst deal ever negotiated".

"The region is safer, Germany and the United States are safer, Europe is safer, Israel is safer and the world is safer... It depends on all of us to keep this alive," Kerry said at an event at which he was awarded the German Order of Merit.

He added that President Barack Obama had already approached Trump about the matter.

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; writing by Maria Sheahan; editing by Mark Heinrich)