- Iranians holding Ashura mourning for Imam Hussein
- Third step: Iran officially informs EU of plan to expand nuclear R&D
- Iran expands nuclear R&D program: Rouhani
- Iran goes ahead in space tech, despite US sanctions: ISA
- Resistance Front undermining Israeli regime power: Top commander
- Iran: 7 crew members of detained UK ship freed
- US addiction to sanction threaten its power: Iran’s Zarif
- Dutch role in 2007 Stuxnet attack on Iran’s nuclear site under scrutiny: Iraian FM Spox.
- Iran: ‘Sustainable Security 2019’ kicks off in Caspian Sea
- Iran’s Zarif leaves Tehran for Moscow
- Shiraz University ranked 1st in liver transplantation: Iranian health official
- Japan’s Abe to meet Iran’s president to discuss easing tension in region
- Downing of US spy drone shattered war threats against Iran: Top IRGC commander
- IAEO head reports development of first ion-therapy hospital in west of Asia
- Iranian Taekwondo team wins 2019 World Cup championship
- US sanctions failed to force Iran to buckle: Report
- Crew fixing Iran oil tanker broken down in Red Sea
- As Iranians hold nerves, US seeks to scare off trade
- Leader expresses concern about Kashmir, urges India to follow fair policy toward Muslim-majority region
- Iran saffron exports down due to smuggling, government restrictions: Exporter
- Iran FM warns US against ‘serious miscalculation’ in Persian Gulf
- Iran’s resistance policy led to release of oil tanker: MP
- Iran in reverse brain drain as top students come home in rising numbers
- Iran official calls for compensation for tanker seizure
- Iran hails N Korea for standing against ‘unilateral’ US demands
- Shia Muslims celebrate Eid Al-Ghadir
- North Korea praises Iran’s anti-US struggle
- Zarif says to meet French president Friday
- Iranian court hearing case of UK oil tanker
- Over half of Japanese voters oppose joining US-led anti-Iran coalition in Persian Gulf: Poll
- IME trade ups by 21 percent in July
- Finland backs INSTEX in defiance of US
- US anti-Iran policy in high seas harms Europeans: LA Times
- Iran, China confer on Syria
- Iran, Finland share views on Persian Gulf dialogue forum: Zarif
- Iran warns US against seizure of oil tanker
- Iraq eager to benefit from Iranian Police’s experience
- Iran planning 3rd step to reduce nuclear commitments: Spokesman
- Leader grants clemency to over 1,000 Iranian inmates
- Registration for Arbaeen Pilgrimage to begin in Iran on Friday
- Iran, Iraq agree to reopen Khosravi border crossing
- Iran deplores suicide attack at Kabul wedding hall
- Iran to hold int'l hand-woven carpets expo
- Zarif meets with Iran-Kuwait Friendship Group members
- Adrian Darya oil tanker not under any sanctions, says Iran envoy
- ‘Iran to stay in nuclear deal as long as its interests are met’
- India envoy happy with positive trend of trade with Iran
- Iran’s annual export of white meat tops 2.5m tons: Minister
- Iranian scientist discovers new state of matter
- Iran, Japan diplomats discuss bilateral ties
- Iran, Ansarullah, European representatives Yemen developments
- ‘Iran to become self-sufficient in producing aircraft engines'
- US issues seizure warrant for Iranian supertanker 'Grace 1'
- Neanderthal tooth unearthed near Iran’s Zagros mountain
- Iran’s Zarif due in Kuwait on Saturday
- US faces humiliating defeat after Gibraltar releases Iranian tanker: Envoy
- Spokesman rejects claim on Iran’s commitment in exchange for tanker release
- Zarif reacts to release of Iranian tanker in Gibraltar
- Israel, UAE engaged in secret talks on Iran arranged by US: Report
- US threatens visa ban as Iranian-operated tanker sets to sail from Gibraltar
- Enemies must factor Iran's global power in their calculations: IRGC's chief commander
- Trump’s administration conflicting messages to Iran baffle go-betweens: Report
- Gibraltar releases Iran-operated tanker despite US pressure
TEHRAN, December 28 - US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States is building alliances with certain countries in the Middle East in order to confront a wide range of threats Iran is presenting.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Tillerson made the remarks in an opinion piece published in The New York Times on Thursday where he defended the foreign policy record of President Donald Trump’s administration.
"The flawed nuclear deal is no longer the focal point of our policy toward Iran," he said. "We are now confronting the totality of Iranian threats."
“Part of this strategy entails rebuilding alliances with our partners in the Middle East, and in November we helped re-establish diplomatic ties between Iraq and Saudi Arabia,” he added.
“We will continue to work with our allies and with Congress to explore options for addressing the nuclear deal’s many flaws, while building a like-minded effort to punish Iran for its violations of ballistic missile commitments and its destabilizing activities in the region,” he continued.
Trump has been desperately trying to undo the nuclear agreement with Iran, which restricts his ability to pursue harsher policies against the Islamic Republic.
On October 13, Trump announced he would not re-certify the international accord.
Under US law, the president is required to certify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear agreement every 90 days. Trump has done so twice since taking office, albeit reluctantly.
In refusing to certify the accord for a third time, Trump passed the buck to Congress to decide whether to restore sanctions on Iran, which were lifted in exchange for Iran agreeing to limit its nuclear program.
Congress was given by the White House until December 12 to decide whether to impose economic sanctions on Tehran again but it chose not to take any action and thus sent the issue back to Trump.
Since its inception in January, the Trump administration has been spreading anti-Iran propaganda, accusing the country of being involved in subversive activities in Yemen, Syria, and Iraq where the United States and its regional allies like Israel and Saudi Arabia are actually involved in supporting terrorists. Saudi Arabia even has been bombing the impoverished people of Yemen since 2015.
Iran on the other hand has helped the governments in Iraq and Syria to help fight foreign-sponsored terrorists. Iran has also helped the forces resisting the Saudi aggression in Yemen in an effort to help protect the country’s sovereignty and establish peace there.
But the Trump administration has built alliances with Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and some other countries in order to confront what it calls a threat presented by a rising Iran.
‘90% of North Korea’s export earnings had been cut off’
In his article, Tillerson also claimed that some 90 percent of North Korea’s export earnings had been cut off by a series of US-led sanctions after Washington "abandoned the failed policy of strategic patience.”
“We hope that this international isolation will pressure the regime into serious negotiations on the abandonment of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. A door to dialogue remains open, but we have made it clear that the regime must earn its way back to the negotiating table. Until denuclearization occurs, the pressure will continue,” he wrote.
Tillerson said "a door to dialogue remains open" for Pyongyang but warned "until denuclearization occurs, the pressure will continue.”
Washington’s decades-long military presence in and around the Korean Peninsula has forced Pyongyang to develop its ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons as a deterrent against Washington's aggression.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the production of more rocket warheads and engines. Pyongyang says it will not give up on its nuclear deterrence unless Washington ends its hostile policy toward the country and dissolves the US-led UN command in South Korea. Thousands of US soldiers are stationed in South Korea and Japan.
US has ‘poor relationship with a resurgent Russia’
In his piece, Tillerson also acknowledged of the US having “a poor relationship with a resurgent Russia.”
The top US diplomat accused Moscow of invading “its neighbors Georgia and Ukraine in the last decade and undermined the sovereignty of Western nations by meddling in our election and others’.”
Many Democrats and some Republicans have accused the Russian government of meddling in the 2016 US election that they say helped Trump defeat his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. But Trump and Russian officials have repeatedly rejected such allegations.
It’s interesting that first time a top member of the Trump administration has now endorsed the argument of Trump’s opponents.
According to senior Trump administration officials, Trump has reportedly lost confidence in Tillerson and is planning to remove him in favor of CIA Director Mike Pompeo, a Trump loyalist and foreign policy hard-liner.
The 53-year-old CIA chief has taken tough foreign policy stands, especially on Iran, and talked about how his agency is becoming more aggressive and how he has been focusing on deploying more CIA agents abroad.
Source: Presstv
Your Comment