Tag: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

‘Uncertainty’ Over US Declaration That UN Sanctions Will Be Reimposed on Iran

Washington argues it triggered the return of sanctions – known as “snapback” – because a UN resolution that enshrines the pact still names it as a participant.

New York: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Saturday he cannot take any action on a US declaration that all UN sanctions on Iran had been reimposed because “there would appear to be uncertainty” on the issue.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last month that he triggered a 30-day process at the council leading to the return of UN sanctions on Iran on Saturday evening that would also stop a conventional arms embargo on Tehran from expiring on October 18.

But 13 of the 15 Security Council members say Washington’s move is void because Pompeo used a mechanism agreed under a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, which the United States quit in 2018.

“There would appear to be uncertainty whether or not the process … was indeed initiated and concomitantly whether or not the (sanctions) terminations … continue in effect,” Guterres wrote in a letter to the council, seen by Reuters.

“It is not for the Secretary-General to proceed as if no such uncertainty exists,” he said.

UN officials provide administrative and technical support to the Security Council to implement its sanctions regimes and Guterres appoints independent experts to monitor implementation. He said that “pending clarification” of the status of the Iran sanctions, he would not take any action to provide that support.

Also read: UNSC: US Looks to Extend Iran Arms Embargo, Threatens ‘Snapback’

Washington argues it triggered the return of sanctions – known as “snapback” – because a UN resolution that enshrines the pact still names it as a participant. Diplomats say few countries are likely to reimpose the measures lifted under the 2015 deal that aimed to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

“If the UN Member States fail to fulfil their obligations to implement these sanctions, the United States is prepared to use our domestic authorities to impose consequences for those failures,” Pompeo said in a statement on Saturday.

He said that in the coming days Washington would announce additional measures to strengthen the implementation of the UN sanctions and “hold violators accountable.” The United States is trying to push Iran to negotiate a new deal with Washington.

Russia’s Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy responded on Twitter, “We all clearly said in August that the U.S. claims to trigger snapback are illegitimate. Is Washington deaf?”

Longtime US allies Britain, France and Germany told the council on Friday that UN sanctions relief for Iran would continue and that any decision or action is taken to reimpose UN sanctions “would be incapable of legal effect.”

Iran‘s UN Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi said on Twitter on Saturday, “US illegal and false ‘deadline’ has come and gone … Swimming against international currents will only bring it more isolation.”

(Reuters)

US to Impose Sanctions on Violators of UN Arms Embargo on Iran

Washington says this embargo will now stay in place instead of expiring in October as agreed under a 2015 nuclear deal.

Washington: The United States said on Wednesday it plans to impose sanctions on those who violate a UN arms embargo on Iran, which Washington says will now stay in place instead of expiring in October as agreed under a 2015 nuclear deal.

US Special Representative for Venezuela and Iran Elliott Abrams said Washington could deny access to the U.S. market to anyone who trades in weapons with Iran, which President Donald Trump’s administration accuses of seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran has denied it is developing nuclear weapons.

In 2018 Trump quit the Iran nuclear deal, under which Tehran limited its nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief, and reimposed U.S. sanctions. Washington also says it has triggered a return of all U.N. sanctions on Iran, which would take effect this weekend.

But the other parties to the nuclear deal, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, and most of the UN Security Council have said they do not believe the United States can reimpose the U.N. sanctions.

Also read: Breaking Taboo, UAE, Bahrain Sign Formal Agreements With Israel at White House

“It’s like pulling a trigger and no bullet comes out,” a senior UN Security Council diplomat said on condition of anonymity. “There will be no snapback, the sanctions will remain suspended, the JCPOA (nuclear deal) will remain in place.”

Asked if Washington is “making concrete plans now for secondary sanctions” to enforce the arms embargo, Abrams told reporters: “We are, in many ways, and we will have some announcements over the weekend and more announcements on Monday and then subsequent days next week.”

Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams appears as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (not pictured) speaks during a news conference at the State Department, in Washington, March 31, 2020. Andrew Harnik/ Pool via REUTERS/Files

Diplomats say few nations are likely to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran.

Earlier on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters, “We’ll do all the things we need to do to ensure that those sanctions are enforced.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday described the opposition to Washington as a “victory of the Iranian nation and the disgraceful defeat of the United States inactivation of the snapback mechanism.”

(Reuters)

Israel to ‘Suspend’ West Bank Annexation After Historic Deal with UAE, Announces Trump

The agreement was sealed in a phone call on Thursday between Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed.

Washington: Israel and the United Arab Emirates reached a historic deal on Thursday that will lead to a full normalisation of diplomatic relations between the two Middle Eastern nations in an agreement that US President Donald Trump helped broker.

Under the agreement, Israel has agreed to suspend applying sovereignty to areas of the West Bank that it has been discussing annexing, senior White House officials told Reuters.

The deal was the product of lengthy discussions between Israel, the UAE and the United States that accelerated recently, White House officials said.

The agreement was sealed in a phone call on Thursday between Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed.

“HUGE breakthrough today! Historic Peace Agreement between our two GREAT friends, Israel and the United Arab Emirates,” Trump wrote on Twitter.


In the White House Oval Office, Trump said discussions between the two leaders had sometimes been tense. He said similar deals are being discussed with other countries in the region. A signing ceremony including delegations from Israel and the United Arab Emirates will be held at the White House in the coming weeks, Trump added.

“Everybody said this would be impossible,” Trump said. “After 49 years, Israel and the United Arab Emirates will fully normalize their diplomatic relations. They exchange embassies and ambassadors and begin cooperation across the border.”

The U.S. officials described the agreement, to be known as the Abraham Accords, as the first of its kind since Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994. It also gives Trump a foreign policy success as he seeks re-election on Nov. 3.

Netanyahu, in his first comment on the deal, said on Twitter it is “a historic day for the state of Israel.”

Abu Dhabi’s crown prince said on Twitter that an agreement had been reached and that it would halt further Israeli annexation of Palestinian territories.

“During a call with President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, an agreement was reached to stop further Israeli annexation of Palestinian territories. The UAE and Israel also agreed to cooperation and setting a roadmap towards establishing a bilateral relationship,” he said.

White House officials said Trump senior adviser Jared Kushner, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Middle East envoy Avi Berkowitz were deeply involved in negotiating the deal, as well as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien.

A joint statement issued by the three nations said the three leaders had “agreed to the full normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.”

“This historic diplomatic breakthrough will advance peace in the Middle East region and is a testament to the bold diplomacy and vision of the three leaders and the courage of the United Arab Emirates and Israel to chart a new path that will unlock the great potential in the region,” the statement said.

Brian Hook, the U.S. State Department’s lead official on Iran, said the agreement amounted to a “nightmare” for Iran in its efforts against Israel in the region.

Trump said, “This deal is a significant step towards building a more peaceful, secure and prosperous Middle East. Now that the ice has been broken, I expect more Arab and Muslim countries will follow the United Arab Emirates’ lead …. and normalize relations with Israel.”

“We are already discussing this with other nations, very powerful, very good nations that want to see peace in the Middle East so you will probably see others of these,” Trump added. “Things are happening that I can’t talk about, but they’re extremely positive.”

Delegations from Israel and the United Arab Emirates will meet in the coming weeks to sign bilateral agreements regarding investment, tourism, direct flights, security, telecommunications and other issues, the statement said.

The two countries are expected soon to exchange ambassadors and embassies.

The statement said that as “a result of this diplomatic breakthrough and at the request of President Trump with the support of the United Arab Emirates, Israel will suspend declaring sovereignty” over areas of the West Bank that were envisioned in the U.S. peace plan unveiled by Trump in January.

The agreement envisions giving Muslims greater access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem by allowing them to fly from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv, White House officials said.

The joint statement said the United Arab Emirates and Israel will immediately expand and accelerate cooperation regarding the treatment of and the development of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus amid the pandemic.

(Reuters)

‘No Locus Standi to Criticise’: India Denies Visas to US Religious Freedom Monitoring Team

The external affairs minister told BJP MP Nishikant Dubey that the US government body was known to make “prejudiced” observations about India.

New Delhi: India has declined to give visas to teams from a US government body monitoring international religious freedom, as it has no locus standi to make pronouncements on Indian citizens’ “constitutional-protected rights”, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar informed a ruling party lawmaker.

The contents of the letter were reported by Indian media, including PTI, on Wednesday – just a few hours before US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released the 2019 International Religious Freedom Report in Washington.

As per the PTI report, Jaishankar had conveyed the Ministry of External Affairs’ position to BJP MP Nishikant Dubey who had raised the issue concerning the USCIRF seeking sanctions against home minister Amit Shah in case the Citizenship Amendment Act was passed, during the winter session of Lok Sabha last year.

“We have also denied visa to USCIRF teams that have sought to visit India in connection with issues related to religious freedom, as we do not see the locus standi of a foreign entity like USCIRF to pronounce on the state of Indian citizens constitutionally protected rights,” he wrote, after stating that the US government body was known to make “prejudiced” observations about India.

“We do not take cognizance of these pronouncements and have repudiated such attempts to misrepresent information related to India,” the minister wrote.

This is not the first time that the USCIRF has claimed that its teams have been denied visas. In its 2019 annual report, USCIRF had reported that it has been unable to visit India since 2001. “…on three different occasions—in 2001, 2009, and 2016—the government of India refused to grant visas for a USCIRF delegation despite requests being supported by the State Department,” it said.

Also read: Factsheet by US Panel on Religious Freedom Says CAA-NRC Part of BJP’s Plan to Exclude Muslims

After the citizenship amendment bill was passed in the Lok Sabha, the USCIRF had recommended, on December 9, 2019, that the “United States government should consider sanctions against the Home Minister and other principal leadership”.

The MEA spokesperson had retorted that the USCIRF had “chosen to be guided only by its prejudices and biases on a matter on which it had little knowledge and no locus standi“.

This April, USCIRF had recommended that the state department include India on the list of “countries of special concern,” alongside 13 other countries which included China, Pakistan, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Russia. This was the first time that the USCIRF had proposed the inclusion of India on the special list since 2004.

In the official rebuttal, MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava had highlighted the dissension within the commission. “We reject the observations on India in the USCIRF Annual Report. Its biased and tendentious comments against India are not new. But on this occasion, its misrepresentation has reached new levels. It has not been able to carry its own Commissioners in its endeavour. We regard it as an organisation of particular concern and will treat it accordingly,” he stated.

In his speech on Wednesday, Pompeo referred to China, Nigeria, Nicaragua as countries which had special issues over religious freedom. However, there was no mention of India.

Hours later, Samuel Brownback, US ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom told foreign journalists that the US was very concerned about what was happening in India in terms of religious freedom.

In a response to the 2019 International Religious Freedom Report that listed out incidents of atrocities against minorities and passage of controversial CAA, MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava on Thursday again dismissed it.

“The report is published annually by the department of state as part of its legal requirement to the US Congress and is an internal document of the US government. India’s vibrant democratic traditions and practices are evident to the world. The people and government of India are proud of our country’s democratic traditions. We have a robust public discourse in India and constitutionally mandated institutions that guarantee protection of religious freedom and rule of law,” he claimed

Srivastava added that India’s position “remains that we see no locus standi for a foreign entity to pronounce on the state of our citizens’ constitutionally protected rights”.

Netanyahu ‘Confident’ of US Nod to West Bank Annexation in Two Months

Palestinians have expressed outrage at Israel’s plans to cement its hold further on land it seized in 1967.

Jerusalem: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced confidence on Sunday that Washington would give Israel the nod within two months to move ahead with de facto annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank.

Palestinians have expressed outrage at Israel’s plans to cement its hold further on land it seized in the 1967 Middle East war, territory they are seeking for a state.

Netanyahu, in announcing a deal with his centrist rival Benny Gantz last week to form a unity government, set July 1 for the start of cabinet discussions on extending Israeli sovereignty to Jewish settlements in the West Bank and annexing outright the area’s Jordan Valley.

Such a move would need to be agreed with Washington, according to the Netanyahu-Gantz agreement.

In a video address on Sunday to a pro-Israeli Christian group in Europe, Netanyahu described a US peace proposal announced by President Donald Trump in January as a promise to recognise Israel’s authority over West Bank settlement land.

Also Read: Amidst Coronavirus Restrictions, Thousands March Against Netanyahu

“A couple of months from now I am confident that that pledge will be honoured,” Netanyahu told the European Commission for Israel.

Palestinian officials offered no immediate comment on Netanyahu’s remarks.

Palestinians have flatly rejected the Trump peace proposal, partly because it awards Israel most of what it has sought during decades of conflict, including nearly all the occupied land on which it has built settlement.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday it was up to Israel whether to annex parts of the West Bank and said that Washington would offer its views privately to its new government.

The Palestinians and many countries regard Israel’s settlements in the West Bank as illegal under the Geneva Conventions that bar settling on land captured in war.

Israel disputes this, citing security needs and biblical, historical and political connections to the land.

(Reuters)

Germany Spearheads the Diplomatic Initiative at Libya Summit

Whether or not the resolutions made at the Berlin Conference on Libya become reality remains to be seen.


For many years, German politics has struggled to take greater responsibility on the world stage. Better said, to take on a responsibility that fits Germany’s role as a leading industrial powerhouse and a central force in the heart of Europe. It’s often unclear what that even means. Greater military strength? Hardly. Germany’s historical legacy sets clear limits here. But as a force that brings greater weight to classic acts of diplomacy? That’s something Germany can do.

On Sunday in Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed presidents from France, Russia, Turkey, and Egypt. She welcomed prime ministers from Great Britain and Italy. The US sent a secretary of state and representatives from the United Arab Emirates and the European and African Unions came as well.

The source of all this commotion, Libya, was also present, represented by its two warring factions — the UN-backed government of Fayez al-Sarraj and General Khalifa Haftar, whose army currently controls large portions of the country.

General view of the Libya summit in Berlin, Germany, January 19, 2020. Bundesregierung/Guido Bergmann/Handout via Reuters

It says a lot about the situation in Libya that these two parties were onlookers (who didn’t speak with each other directly) more than anything else. Since the fall of former ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has been in a never-ending war in which countless international players have since gotten involved. It’s about gas and oil and especially about refugees, who are venturing out of Libya and across the Mediterranean Sea with the help of human traffickers, or who are languishing in bitter conditions in Libyan prisons. It’s also about Islamist terrorism. People have always paid less attention to the drama in Libya than to, say, the war in Syria. But the Libya conflict has been a proxy war for a long time.

It’s, therefore, all the more significant that the German government managed to take the initiative and bring international powers to Berlin in an open attempt not to temper the warring factions in Libya but rather to contain the complex network of international backers, arms dealers and economic profiteers currently involved. Without international support, it’s clear that neither the official government nor the warlord Haftar would be in a position to negotiate. German diplomatic efforts were and are the right approach.

Also read: Leaders Stake Their Claims Ahead of Libya Summit in Berlin

Or any diplomacy, for that matter: In times of rampant nationalism, the plan to find a UN-backed solution for Libya deserves recognition alone. This is particularly significant considering these events are unfolding at a time when people are starting to wonder about Germany’s lack of participation in many global crises. Now an internationally-monitored ceasefire is on the way as well as a requirement to abide by the UN weapons embargo.

Here, Germany is certainly in a better position to moderate than many others: Germany abstained from voting on Libya at the UN Security Council meeting in 2011. At the time, military action against Gadhafi came above all from the US, Great Britain, and France, as is often the case. Germany received a lot of criticism at the time, but today that decision was an advantage.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Republic of Congo’s President Denis Sassou Nguesso, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pose for a family photo during the Libya summit in Berlin, Germany, January 19, 2020. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Turkish Presidential Press Office/Handout via Reuters

So how likely are the resolutions made in Berlin to have real success? The international lust for Libyan gas and oil will remain. However, it’s above all in the interest of the Europeans that diplomacy prevails in Libya. The most recent flow of refugees four years ago, at the time through the Balkans, already pushed the EU to the edge of its capacities and flamed populist and nationalist sentiments.

The main route out of Africa towards Europe now goes through Libya. If the Berlin Conference is to be taken seriously, then the “strong monitoring” of the ceasefire that the resolutions require needs to be heavily secured with soldiers over a long period of time, above all with European forces. Having taken the diplomatic initiative, Germany can’t expect to stand on the sidelines in this regard, even though the chancellor evaded the question after the conference. It’s the only way for the continent to prove it means business when it says it won’t let a conflict with serious consequences unfold on its doorstep. That, instead, it will contribute to de-escalation.

Experts on the situation in Libya have spoken of a “parallel reality” at the Berlin negotiations. That might well be. International influence over the weapons, oil, and money certainly hasn’t helped Libya. For now, the Berlin Resolutions are just a piece of paper. But it’s better than nothing. And for Germany, in any case, it’s an attempt to more clearly define what that means: greater responsibility for the Germans.

The article was originally published on DW. You can read it here.