Showing posts with label SAUDI ARABIA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SAUDI ARABIA. Show all posts

Thursday, July 23, 2015

DEFENSE LEADERS FROM U.S. AND SAUDI ARABIA MEET OVER SECURITY ISSUES

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT

Right:  Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Saudi Arabian Defense Minister Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud say their mutual farewells in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, July 22, 2015. The two leaders met and spoke about issues of mutual importance. DoD photo by Army Sgt. 1st Class Clydell Kinchen.  

Carter, Saudi Leaders Discuss Security, New Challenges
By Cheryl Pellerin
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2015 – Defense Secretary Ash Carter had “exceptionally substantive” meetings with Saudi Arabia’s king and defense minister on regional security issues and new challenges, he said yesterday in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia.

The secretary is in the Middle East on a weeklong trip to Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Carter met in Jeddah with King and Prime Minister Salman bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud, Defense Minister Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud and others. He later briefed reporters about the discussions.

Closer Relations

“We really rolled up our sleeves on the topics … discussed at the [U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council] Camp David summit in May,” Carter said, adding that the reason for his visit was to follow up on commitments by all countries at the summit to build closer relations in fields that include defense and security cooperation.

Carter characterized the U.S.-Saudi relationship as one that is longstanding and faces new challenges in the region.

“The two new challenges that preoccupy both the United States and Saudi Arabia today are, first of all, Iran and its malign activities in the region and potential for aggression. And No. 2, [the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant] and other forms of violent extremism in the region,” the secretary said.

Iran, ISIL

The leaders discussed Iran and ISIL along with regional issues of concern involving Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and others, Carter said. They also talked about several capabilities the United States and Saudi Arabia work on together “to bolster our joint deterrent and response capabilities in the Gulf region,” he added, including special operations and other ground forces, maritime and air forces, cyber forces, ballistic missile defense forces and others.

“We'll have an opportunity to follow up on many of these issues, both with President Obama with the king, when the king visits the United States in the fall,” Carter said, adding that he invited the defense minister to the United States in association with the king's visit or at another time.

Regional Security

The secretary said both the king and the defense minister reiterated their support for the Iranian nuclear deal.

Carter said the leaders also discussed strengthening training and other kinds of planning.

On Yemen, the secretary said they talked about the need that both the Saudis and the U.S. shares for a political settlement to the problem. "That's the way to keep the peace," he said. "That's the way to restore the humanitarian situation there. They see that as we see that: as the key.”

Saturday, May 16, 2015

DOJ ANNOUNCES HIGH-LEVEL AL QAEDA TERRORIST SENTENCED

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Friday, May 15, 2015

High-Ranking al Qaeda Terrorist Sentenced for Conspiring to Kill Americans and Other Terrorism Offenses

Khalid al Fawwaz, 52, a citizen of Saudi Arabia, was sentenced to life in prison for multiple terrorism offenses relating to his participation in al Qaeda’s conspiracy to kill Americans.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin and U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York made the announcement.  U.S. District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the Southern District of New York imposed the sentence in a proceeding attended by victims of the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.  Fawwaz’s sentencing follows a six-week jury trial in January and February of this year, at which Fawwaz was convicted of all four counts with which he was charged.

“Fawwaz is a terrorist who for years served Usama bin Laden and held many positions within al Qaeda,” said Assistant Attorney General Carlin.  “With this sentence, he is being held accountable for his role in al-Qaeda's conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals worldwide during the 1990s.  This case is a testament to our commitment to bringing to justice those who threaten the United States and our interests around in the world, no matter how long it may take.”

“Khalid al Fawwaz, who played a critical role for al Qaeda in its murderous conspiracy against America, will now spend the rest of his life in a federal prison,” said U.S. Attorney Bharara.  “As one of Osama bin Laden's original and most trusted lieutenants, Fawwaz led an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan and a terrorist cell in Kenya before serving as bin Laden’s media adviser in London.  Fawwaz was bin Laden's bridge to the West, facilitating interviews of bin Laden in Afghanistan by Western media and disseminating bin Laden's 1996 declaration of jihad against America and his 1998 fatwah directing followers to kill Americans anywhere in the world.  To that end, on Aug. 7, 1998, al Qaeda operatives bombed our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, murdering 224 innocent people and wounding thousands more.  Fawwaz conspired with a murderous regime, and the result was a horrific toll of terror and death.  The price he will pay, appropriately severe as it is, cannot possibly compensate his victims and their families.”

According to the evidence presented at trial:

During the early 1990s, Fawwaz trained at al Qaeda’s Jawar military training camp in Afghanistan and then became the emir, or head, of al Qaeda’s al Siddiq military training camp in Afghanistan.  In approximately 1993, Fawwaz moved to Nairobi, where he served as one of the leaders of the al Qaeda members there, during a time that al Qaeda was sending fighters through Nairobi to Somalia to fight, and to train Somalis to fight, U.S. and U.N. forces in Somalia.  Fawwaz was also a leader of al Qaeda in Nairobi when al Qaeda began its preparations to attack the U.S. Embassy there.

The evidence further showed that, in 1994, Fawwaz began to act as Osama bin Laden’s media representative in London.  Fawwaz served as bin Laden’s conduit to Western media, screening requests for interviews of bin Laden and facilitating travel to Afghanistan for journalists who were permitted interviews.  Fawwaz also publicized bin Laden’s threats of violence against the United States.  Among other things, Fawwaz delivered bin Laden’s August 1996 Declaration of Jihad against the United States to a journalist for publication and helped arrange for the publication of a February 1998 fatwa, signed by bin Laden and others, that claimed it was the individual duty of every Muslim to kill Americans, civilian and military, in any country where it was possible to do so.  In addition, Fawwaz provided al Qaeda with advice about how best to disseminate its message of terror to the West, and helped obtain items that were difficult to obtain in Afghanistan, such as generators, vehicles and communications equipment, for al Qaeda.  In addition, a list of al Qaeda members recovered in Kandahar, Afghanistan, by the U.S. military in late 2001 contained Fawwaz’s alias and had him numbered ninth on the list.

Following Fawwaz’s arrest in England in September 1998, Fawwaz challenged his extradition to the United States for more than a decade.  He arrived in the Southern District of New York in October 2012.

* * *

Fawwaz’s sentencing follows convictions for conspiring to kill U.S. nationals, conspiring to murder officers and employees of the United States and conspiring to destroy buildings and property of the United States, each of which carried a maximum term of life in prison.  Fawwaz was also convicted of conspiring to attack national defense utilities, which carried a maximum term of 10 years in prison.

Assistant Attorney General Carlin joined U.S. Attorney Bharara in praising the outstanding efforts of the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force – which principally consists of agents from the FBI and detectives from the New York City Police Department.  Carlin and Bharara also thanked the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs for their efforts, as well as the New Scotland Yard for its cooperation in the investigation and prosecution.

The case is being prosecuted by the Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean S. Buckley, Adam Fee, Nicholas J. Lewin and Stephen J. Ritchin of the Southern District of New York, with assistance from Trial Attorney Joseph N. Kaster of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS WITH SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER ADEL AL-JUBEIR

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Secretary's Remarks: Press Availability with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir
05/08/2015 05:12 PM EDT
Press Availability with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir
Press Availability
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Paris, France
May 8, 2015

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good afternoon, everybody, and thank you very much for your patience. This afternoon we’re going to do this a little bit differently. It’s my pleasure to first introduce my friend and the distinguished Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Adel al-Jubeir, and then I will have a few comments, and then we’ll be open to some questions.

So welcome to the Embassy of the United States in Paris, and thank you for your help and cooperation through a very productive day.

FOREIGN MINISTER AL-JUBEIR: Thank you very much, John, for hosting the GCC foreign ministers at this beautiful building in Paris. We had what I thought was a very productive discussion about the status of the P5+1 talks regarding Iran’s nuclear program. We also – we had an extensive briefing about the technical aspects of the talks that lasted over two hours.

We also spent another hour and a half on Camp David and the objectives of Camp David and the issues that will be discussed at Camp David. Don’t ask me to talk about it because I won’t; I can just tell you in general terms that they have to do with the intensifying and strengthening the security-military relationship between the United States of America and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, as well as dealing with new challenges that we face in the region, foremost of which is the Iranian interference in the affairs of the countries of the region.

We were very pleased with the discussions. I thought they were very – extremely productive, very useful. And we believe that now we have a much clearer sense of the – what we will be discussing at Camp – what our leaders will be discussing at Camp David. And having said so, I will leave that part here. Thanks, John, for hosting that meeting and for having it be such a productive and useful meeting for all of us. We look forward to visiting Washington and Camp David.

I wanted to also pick up on something that I mentioned to you yesterday when we announced that we were looking at a five-day ceasefire in Yemen for humanitarian purposes in order to allow the flow of humanitarian assistance to Yemen. We have made a decision that the ceasefire will begin this Tuesday, May 12th, at 11:00 p.m. and will last for five days and is subject to renewal if it’s – if it works out.

The requirements are first and foremost that there is a commitment by the Houthis and their allies, including Ali Abdullah Saleh and those forces that are loyal to him, to abide by the ceasefire. As I said yesterday at Riyadh, this ceasefire will be throughout Yemen or nowhere in Yemen, and the matter is entirely up to the Houthis and their allies. During the ceasefire there will be a continuation of the air and sea interdiction regarding the flow of weapons to the Houthis and their allies in Yemen.

I’m also happy and pleased to announce that the King Salman Humanitarian and Relief Center in Riyadh will be operational on this Sunday, May 10th. It will be the location in Riyadh where a number of organizations and UN efforts and any other country that wants to participate in the distribution of aid to Yemen to coordinate is free to come and be part of it. We believe that it is critically important that all countries be able to send as much relief supplies as efficiently and as quickly to as many Yemenis as possible.

As you know, that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, ordered the contribution of $274 million to the United Nations for emergency relief efforts in Yemen. This is above and beyond the assistance that we are deploying to Yemen every day as well as the assistance that we will be providing to Yemen going forward.

It is our hope and our desire that the Houthis will come to their senses and realize that the interests of Yemen and the Yemeni people are – should be the top priority for everyone. And I want to make sure that I make clear that the ceasefire will end should the Houthis or their allies not live up to the agreement contained in this issue. This is, I believe, a chance for the Houthis to show that they care about their people and that they care about the Yemeni people, and we hope that they take up this offer for the good of Yemen and the people of Yemen.

So thank you very much once again, John. Thank you for hosting the GCC foreign ministers in this wonderful building. It’s always a pleasure to be here and be with you and exchange views and ideas, and I think we did this today in a very positive spirit, so we thank you for this.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, Adel, thank you very much. It was indeed constructive and positive and very, very productive, and I’m grateful to you and all of our colleagues who came here together in order to help make it that. It was well prepared, and I think in the end has really set the stage for a constructive meeting at Camp David.

I’ll say a word just first, if I may, I want to start by expressing my congratulations to Prime Minister Cameron and to my counterpart Secretary of State Philip Hammond and their party for their defying the polls and winning an outright majority in the elections yesterday. As everybody knows, we have a very special relationship with Great Britain. We have deeply shared interests and values. We work together on almost every issue that there is, and now there will obviously be continuity in the relationships built and in the work that we have invested on a number of different priorities and initiatives. So I look forward to continuing to work with Prime Minister Cameron and with Philip on all of our efforts in order to advance global peace and stability, and particularly in this next month and a half to finish our work together on a number of very pressing security issues.

The Gulf Cooperation Council and our Gulf partners have really been at the very center of America’s national interests for a long period of time. And today we find ourselves cooperating on more and more challenges within the region. It is a region that is facing particular challenge at this time, so obviously, by necessity, we – with common interests and with our mutual security and other interests at stake, we have found that it is critical for us to be able to dig into the relationship deeper in terms of ways we can cooperate to have a greater impact on these challenges that we face. And the United States is grateful for and fortunate to have partners who have been willing to stand up with us in the coalition on Daesh, on any other number of vital interests in the region.

Yesterday in Riyadh, for instance, I was privileged to meet with King Salman, who had both the courage and the vision to embrace a full ceasefire for five days. And we said that here in Paris, we would fill out the details a little bit, and with the announcement that the foreign minister has made on behalf of His Majesty King Salman, we now know that to a certainty, on Tuesday at 11:00 p.m. Yemen time, a ceasefire will take place countrywide, providing – providing that the Houthi agree that there will be no bombing, no shooting, no movement of their troops or maneuvering to reposition for military advantage, no movement of heavy weapons or others – that the ceasefire is conditioned on the Houthis agreeing to live by these commitments. And it is a renewable commitment. In other words, if they live by it and if this holds, it opens the door to the possibility of extension and the possibility of a longer period of time for the political process to help resolve these differences.

So anyone who cares about Yemeni people or asserts that they do should take clear notice of the fact that a humanitarian catastrophe is building, and that they are running out of food, they’re running out of medicine, they’re running out of fuel, and clearly, it is an important moment. His Majesty King Salman has recognized that. And despite the fact that he has had cross-border attacks and other challenges, he has made the decision to try to fight for a peaceful resolution. We applaud that. And we believe that all those who have been supportive of the Houthi need at this time to encourage the leadership, and all the way down through the rank and file, to live by this opportunity that is a very important one and very significant in the potential consequences for Yemen itself.

The United States is working with the international community now to try to organize as much humanitarian assistance as possible to be able to flow once that ceasefire takes effect, working with and through the United Nations. And anybody who hears this who has an idea that they want to get assistance into the people, there are organizations – World Food Organization, International Red Cross, others – who work through the United Nations, whom they should be in contact with so that this is an organized and clearly not military movement of goods in any way whatsoever.

Now, I want to be very clear about another thing. A ceasefire is not peace. Ultimately, the parties are going to have to find a way back to the table. And they’re going to have to make tough choices about more than just a ceasefire, because even the most durable of ceasefires is not a substitute for peace. Even the most durable of ceasefires is not a substitute for an inclusive, Yemeni-led political dialogue that all sides can support. And King Salman of Saudi Arabia has made another initiative in order to try to create that dialogue. He has announced a conference in Riyadh to which he invites all Yemeni parties. Now, it may be that not everybody shows up. We don’t know. But they’re invited.

And we support that conference with the hopes that it might produce some further steps forward to have the political resolution, but knowing that everyone agrees that that will lead into the subsequent talks to be held under the auspices of the United Nations and the UN envoy. And we’re very pleased that Saudi Arabia has agreed to support the UN in efforts to also try to help find a peaceful resolution to the situation in Yemen. Only a political solution by Yemenis for Yemenis, in the end, will actually bring an end to Yemen’s crisis. And we are committed to working toward the rapid, unconditional resumption of all party negotiations that will allow Yemen to be able to resume an inclusive transition process that brings peace and stability.

In addition to Yemen, we discussed with our GCC counterparts today preparations for the summit, as Foreign Minister Jubeir – al-Jubeir just said, and that’s going to address a wide range of security issues, folks. It’s going to discuss the threat of regional terrorism, the metastasizing of various terrorist organizations that has become prevalent. It will discuss, obviously, the challenge of Iranian support in some of those particular conflicts. It will discuss the threat of terrorism broadly. And it will discuss how to resolve more effectively those regional conflicts themselves.

So let me be very clear also. Our effort to find a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue with respect to Iran does not stem from any lessening of our concerns about all of these other destabilizing events within the region. And it’s obvious to all, I think, that it’s easier to address those events if the potential of a nuclear weapon has been eliminated from the equation with respect to the challenges that we face.

We’re also very focused on a continuing basis with the challenge of Daesh and the other terrorist groups. And together, we believe that we are making real progress. A large part of that was, frankly, because of the nations that are represented in the room there. There’s been a very significant diminution of the capacity of Daesh within Iraq to be able to control the territory it used to control, to be able to communicate the way it used to communicate, to be able to move the way they used to be able to move. And so we believe, steadily, that that stranglehold is appropriately ending, and we are forcing them to change tactics. And that is encouraging progress, but we still need more.

And that’s why we were meeting here today in addition to the other reasons that I’ve described, because we need to, all of us, come together in the most effective way possible to meet these newer challenges of this moment in history. And President Obama completely understands the stakes, and that’s why today and at Camp David, we are fleshing out a series of new commitments that will create, between the United States and the GCC, a new security understanding, a new set of security initiatives, that will take us beyond anything that we have had before in ways that will ask our partners to work with us, and they will contribute and we will contribute. It is not a one-way street. It is a two-way street with mutual interests and mutual needs that need to be addressed.

That is why we are also strengthening, together, the moderate opposition in Syria against Daesh and against a regime that has committed an organized, wholesale effort of torture, used chemical weapons against its own people, dropped barrel bombs indiscriminately on women and children in schools and hospitals, and blocked whole communities from getting food and medical supplies to civilians in need.

So we have a big agenda. That’s why we met. And that agenda is marked by new developments almost every single day. I came here to share our views, and we listened a lot today to other views, and I am confident that with Camp David, those views are going to take shape in a form that will greatly enhance our ability to meet the needs of our people and the needs of all those people who want a future that is free of terrorism, free of coercion, free of violence – a future that is reflected by the opportunities that this incredible world we live in today offers people who have that kind of peace and stability. That’s what we’re working for and that’s what we will continue to work for.

Thank you, and we’d be happy to take a few questions.

MODERATOR: Okay. Is this on? The first question is – can you hear me? Hello? Okay. I’ll just speak loudly. The first question’s from Nicolas Revise of AFP. Go ahead. I hope your microphone works.

QUESTION: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary and Mr. Foreign Minister. Mr. Secretary, first on Yemen: Do you think that the Houthis will accept the ceasefire, and are you going to talk to your Iranian and Russian counterparts to ask them to use their influence? Secondly, Mr. Secretary, on France: The French president made a landmark visit to Riyadh. What’s your take on this growing strategic relationship between the French and the Saudis? Do you see it affecting the unity of the P5+1 negotiating with Iran? And what are your thoughts on the Corker bill passing the Senate in the United States?

And Mr. Foreign Minister, if I may, the coalition has declared all of Sadah in Yemen a military target. How can you talk about a ceasefire and at the same time expand military operations? Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Do you want to go first?

FOREIGN MINISTER AL-JUBEIR: Very simple. We set the ceasefire at five days, on Tuesday at mid – at 11 p.m. in the evening. The operations in Sadah are in direct response to the Houthis attacking civilians in Saudi Arabia and killing civilians in Saudi Arabia. This is something that we will not tolerate. This was a grave escalation on the part of the Houthis that we had to respond to. We cannot allow people to lob missiles into our territory and murder our people. It’s just not going to happen without there being a very, very severe response. And that’s what we’re doing.

But the ceasefire will begin on Tuesday at 11 p.m. It will last initially for five days. We are in touch with international relief organizations and UN organizations to see how we can facilitate the flow of humanitarian supplies into Yemen. There are a lot of supplies in the region. We want to be able to get them into Yemen, distribute them. Whether or not we succeed in doing so will depend on what the Houthis and their allies do. If they interdict, if they advance, if they commit aggression, there will be no ceasefire. If they abide by the terms of the ceasefire, then there will be an opportunity to help the people of Yemen.

So whether there is a ceasefire or not is entirely in the hands of the Houthis.

SECRETARY KERRY: I would just add to that, if I may quickly, sort of honing in on that issue, but I think it’s an important one for all of us. Really, it is not hard if you pass the word and give strict orders to your people to condition the behavior of people in the context of five days of requirement here. And our hope is that the Houthis will spread the word rapidly. That is the reason that it’s not beginning till Tuesday. The reason is to give time, assuming people accept it, to both accept it, to have their deliberations, not to miss an opportunity, to let the people outside weigh in in order to give good counsel, and ultimately to get the word down to the rank and file what the rules are.

And the rules are very straightforward: Don’t shoot. Don’t move around and start to reposition and take advantage of this. This is a humanitarian pause, and they should treat it accordingly. And if that could happen, that could be the beginning of an opportunity for a genuine transition. So as the foreign minister has said, Saudi Arabia has made the big decision – they were the ones with the aircraft, they control the airspace, they were flying, and they totally said we’re not going to fly. We’re not going to bomb. And they’re not in every community on the ground to be the ones to initiate an action. So if the Houthi will live by this, there is a chance to move forward, and we hope that they will take every advantage to pass the word down the ranks.

Now it is possible in one place or another that somebody misses the word and something doesn’t happen and something – but the Saudis have indicated they’re not going to not break this up over some mistake or some minor thing. They’re going to try to keep this alive, but not for some bold, significant, clear effort to attack people, move people, reposition equipment, and so forth. The rules are pretty clear. And we hope people will understand that.

The – and we encourage the countries that have the greatest influence with them and we will be in touch with those countries in order to try to encourage them to take advantage of this moment.

With respect to whether they will accept, however – or not, obviously – we hope they will. We’ve had some indications that that might take place, but no certainty, and the diplomacy will now take place to try to increase that possibility.

With respect to Saudi Arabia’s visit – the visit that was made by the French president to Saudi Arabia, that’s normal course of business, terrific. We have no issue whatsoever with it. We’ve received a full debrief. We appreciate the relationship of Saudi Arabia with many countries. And I met this morning with Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius; we had a good discussion. I met briefly, obviously, at the Arc de Triomphe with the president. We’re all on the same page, and France and the United States agree completely, as we do with the rest of the P5+1, about what we need to achieve in the agreement with Iran and what the standards are that need to apply to it. We all agree it needs to be robust, it needs to be clear, it needs to be defined, and that’s what we’re working towards. So we think that the visit enhances the relationship between all of us and Saudi Arabia, and that’s important. And we welcome it.

With respect to the bill in Congress, let me just say that we’ve been very, very clear that the bill that was passed out by this Foreign Relations Committee was really the kind of reasonable and acceptable compromise that the President was prepared to support. And that’s why he did support it, because it was changed from the original. And we’re pleased to see that it’s overwhelmingly passed the Senate, staying true to the bipartisan compromise. And we’re very hopeful that the House is going to similarly protect this in the same way that the Senate did and give Congress the opportunity that we think and I, as a 28-year veteran of Congress, believe ought to have to be able to review this deal in a responsible way. I was also very pleased to see that 151 members of the House of Representatives signed a letter supporting the President’s efforts to achieve this deal, to achieve a good deal, and they supported the idea the President ought to be able to continue to negotiate without interference on the terms of that negotiation by the Congress.

So all in all, I think it was very constructive, and we welcome where we are. Now the necessity is to get down to the nitty-gritty of the tough part of the negotiations to get the details pinned down over the course of the next weeks.

FOREIGN MINISTER AL-JUBEIR: If I may, could I follow up on your questions with regards to Yemen? I want to make clear that no country in the world has given more economic assistance to Yemen than the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has over the last 40-plus years. No country in the world will give more to Yemen going forward in the future than Saudi Arabia, I have no doubt about it. We want what’s best for Yemen. We want Yemen to overcome the difficult period it is going through. It was Saudi Arabia and the GCC countries that came up with the GCC initiative which set the stage for the transition in Yemen.

It was, ironically, the GCC initiative that brought the Houthis into the political process from which they were excluded. The transition was then negatively affected by former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and by the Houthis, and they tried to take over the country by force, which we will not allow. They had a militia that operated outside the control of the Yemeni Government, which should not be allowed. The last thing we need on our border is a militia armed with missiles, in control of an air force, that is loyal to Iran and Hizballah. It’s just not going to happen. You cannot have a normal country where one group has arms. And so our advice to the Houthis is: You are part of Yemen. You have a role to play in Yemen. You have a right to be in the Yemeni Government like every other Yemeni group, but you cannot have a privileged position where you have veto power over the country or where you take over the country.

So it was extremely painful for us to take the step of using force in Yemen. It was a last resort. Had we not done this, Yemen would have fallen. And so we responded to the request by the legitimate government in order to protect the Yemeni people and to protect the legitimate government of Yemen. The intention was not to commit aggression against the Houthis – quite the contrary; it was to stop the Houthis from committing aggression against Yemen and its people.

And so I hope that the Houthis will accept the terms of the ceasefire, that they will stop their aggression against the Yemeni people and against Yemen, and that they will allow relief to flow into Yemen so we can help the Yemeni people. And I hope that they will be able to participate in the political process so that we can resolve Yemen’s problems peacefully around the negotiating table rather than on the battlefield.

MODERATOR: Hussein Kneiber of al-Arabiya.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, you said yesterday in Riyadh and you have just repeated it now that the United States is concerned deeply about Iran’s action in the region. Yesterday, also in Riyadh, you said that there are some steps to provide greater stability and security in the region. What are these steps, and are they related with the military cooperation that you intend to widen with Saudi Arabia?

A question for Excellency al-Jubeir – Foreign Minister al-Jubeir. (In Arabic.)

FOREIGN MINISTER AL-JUBEIR: (Via interpreter) -- the assurances are there and the will is there on both sides, by the U.S. and the GCC. And it does not require assurances.

As for the assurances concerning defending the GCC, these have been in place for over six or eight decades. We have witnessed in the ’80s when the Soviet Union entered Afghanistan, the United States worked with Saudi Arabia to support – to defend against the Mujahedeen, and when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, also the U.S. worked to establish an international coalition of more than 30 countries to liberate Kuwait and defend the region as a whole.

The United States and Saudi Arabia are working closely also with our partners and allies in the region to face – to confront terrorism, extremism, and Daesh, and also to protect the navigation routes.

And now I expect in the coming period there will be further strengthening and enhancement of these efforts so that the relations or joint action will be more effective and more expansive in all areas, whether it relates to cyber security or defense against ballistic missiles or training – military training or equipping. These are further progress in issues that we are already working on, and it’s natural for them to be enhanced and intensified between friendly countries.

SECRETARY KERRY: So today and yesterday I referenced sort of concerns about one particular country, but I think that you know, everybody knows, that no security arrangement or agreement among a whole group of countries, particularly in that region, is confined to one concern. We have a broad array of concerns, which we will be expressing in the context of Camp David, which relate to destabilizing efforts by anybody in the region, which relate to terrorist organizations that are spreading in the region. You have, obviously, al-Shabaab in Somalia; you’ve had Boko Haram in Mali; you have Daesh in Libya; you have al-Nusrah and al-Qaida and ISIL and others all through. I mean, those are the concerns: the destabilization of the region by a number of different entities, and obviously we all know that Iran has supported Hizballah and has supported Houthis and other efforts.

So – but this is not one-country specific as an initiative. This is a broad understanding that countries that want to have stability and peace and play by the rules and live up to international law and not have UN sanctions against them and begin to live to standards, that’s what we’re seeking and our belief is that the challenges we’re facing in terms of these predatory entities that come into challenged governing spaces or no governing spaces. As we learned in Afghanistan, the absence of governed – ungoverned spaces filled often by the worst – the worst actors, and we saw the results in 2001 and we’ve seen them in other times.

So we are banding together to expand our capacity to deal with the future. And that is not limited only to – it’s not a military arrangement. The last choice for everybody ought to be military. It’s how do you prevent these things from happening, how do you stop them metastasizing, how do you eliminate intrusive activities in your country that aren’t an overt attack externally but are rather a insidious kind of eating away at the innards of a country through various nefarious activities that take place. And so we have to guard against the breadth of that kind of activity in various ways, and we’re going to explore that very, very thoroughly in the context of this arrangement.

But I think that – the other parts of it that we all have agreed we need to work on are making sure that a lot of young people have jobs, making sure that there’s opportunity for the future, making sure that people are included in global aspirations and in global possibilities. And that will come about by working at these things, listening to each other, understanding the differences of culture, the differences of history, the transitional timeframes that are possible and so forth. And there’s no stereotype. There’s no cookie-cutter stamp that can be put on any one of these countries in any way. And I think the more we sit together and the more we talk about these challenges, the more we become aware of the subtleties that have to be taken into account as you try to find a common way forward.

That’s what we’re doing. That’s what I think makes this particularly healthy as a discussion, as an enterprise, and we look forward to trying to see our leaders come out of Camp David with a common understanding of that way forward.

MODERATOR: Great. Thank you all very much.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, all.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

NSC STATEMENT ON CONCLUSION OF OPERATION DECISIVE STORM IN YEMEN

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE
April 22, 2015
Statement by NSC Spokesperson Bernadette Meehan on the Conclusion of Operation Decisive Storm

The United States welcomes the decision by the Government of Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners to conclude Operation Decisive Storm in Yemen.  With this announcement, we look forward to a shift from military operations to the rapid, unconditional resumption of all-party negotiations that allow Yemen to resume an inclusive political transition process as envisioned in the GCC Initiative, the National Dialogue outcomes, and relevant UN Security Council resolutions.  We also welcome the United Nations continuing to play a vital role in facilitating the political talks and look forward to the United Nations announcing a location for the talks in the very near future.

We strongly urge all Yemeni parties, in particular the Houthis and their supporters, to take this opportunity to return to these negotiations as part of the political dialogue.  Having bravely and resolutely sought a democratic political transition, the Yemeni people deserve the opportunity to hold a peaceful debate about their new constitution, to participate in a credible and safe constitutional referendum, and to vote in free and fair national elections.

We commend the commitment of King Salman of Saudi Arabia to provide $274 million in emergency humanitarian relief to Yemen.  We also strongly support the commitment of the Government of Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners to facilitate the provision of humanitarian and medical aid to those displaced and injured by the fighting.  We look forward to this transition from Operation Decisive Storm significantly increasing the opportunities for international and Yemeni humanitarian organizations to access and deliver assistance to the Yemeni people.

The United States reiterates the obligation of all nations to abide by the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 2216 that prohibit the supply of arms or other related materiel to key Houthi leaders, as well as former president Ali Abdallah Saleh, his son, and those acting at their direction.  The United States will continue to support efforts to build international cooperation to seek to prevent violations of this resolution, including through enhanced maritime monitoring and inspection by international partners.

At the same time, we will continue to closely monitor terrorist threats posed by al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula and to take action as necessary to disrupt continuing, imminent threats to the United States and our citizens. AQAP and other terrorists have sought to benefit from the deterioration of the political and security situation in Yemen, and we strongly believe it is in the interests of the Yemeni people to unite to confront the shared terrorist threat to their country.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

READOUT: PRESIDENT OBAMA'S CALL WITH KING SALMAN BIN ABDULAZIZ AL-SAUD REGARDING FRAMEWORK OF NUCLEAR DEAL WITH IRAN

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE
April 02, 2015
Readout of the President’s Call With King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud of Saudi Arabia

The President called King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud of Saudi Arabia today to discuss the political framework reached between the P5+1, the EU, and Iran on a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action regarding Iran’s nuclear program.  The President reiterated that the months ahead will be used to finalize the technical details for a lasting, comprehensive solution that effectively cuts off all of Iran’s pathways to a bomb and verifiably ensures the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.  He emphasized that the nuclear understanding between the P5+1 and Iran will not in any way lessen U.S. concern about Iran’s destabilizing activities in the region.  The leaders agreed to increase consultations and remain vigilant in countering this threat.  As part of this effort, the President invited the King and Gulf Cooperation Council leaders to Camp David this spring to continue consultations.  The President and King Salman reaffirmed the enduring friendship between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

SECRETARY KERRY, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER FABIUS MAKE REMARKS IN PARIS

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Quai d'Orsay
Paris, France
March 7, 2015

FOREIGN MINISTER FABIUS: (In French.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Laurent, thank you very, very much. Thank you for hosting us here today. I really appreciate the welcome, as always. It’s always wonderful to be in Paris, though obviously only for a few hours today.

I want to begin by expressing President Obama’s and my deepest condolences to the families of the French, Belgian, and Malian victims of this appalling shooting in Bamako this morning. As Foreign Minister Fabius made clear just now in his comments, this is an act of cowardice. And these horrific and cowardly attacks, these acts of terrorism, which Paris experienced too much of most recently, but an act of opening fire in a restaurant filled with innocent civilians – in the end, that only strengthens our resolve to fight terrorism in all of its forms wherever it exists. And we are pleased that together with France we have a present-day manifestation of an old relationship as we join together to express our revulsion at this kind of act, and our unity, our partnership, and our alliance in standing up to it and continuing to fight.

So rather than intimidate us, it has the exact opposite effect. It strengthens our partnership and it strengthens our commitment to see this moment, this generational challenge, through. And we will.

Today, we talked at some length – in a short span of time, obviously, but we talked about Daesh. We talked about the challenge in Syria, in Iraq, and the need to continue, and ways in which we can strengthen what we’re doing. We talked also about the need for transition in Syria and the increased efforts with respect to the Assad regime and the need to leverage him to a negotiation. We talked about Libya – the threat, obviously, of Daesh and other extremist groups taking advantage of the lack of adequate governance and the adequate resolution politically of the challenges there. And we committed to redouble our efforts together in order to focus on that.

As many of you know, I’ve spent the past week traveling in Europe and in the Middle East discussing a number of important issues. But obviously, my primary focus for this week has really been the Iran nuclear talks. And after a couple of days of very intense negotiations with the Iranians in Switzerland, I traveled to Saudi Arabia, where I updated our allies and our partners in Riyadh and throughout the Gulf. And here in Paris today, I appreciate Foreign Minister Fabius bringing people together and hosting us for our opportunity to be able to have a discussion about what is a partnership. This is not a bilateral negotiation; this is a multilateral P5+1 negotiation. And all of our partners are consistently exchanging and sharing information, sharing ideas, working together, meeting, and helping to try to drive this to the good conclusion that we want.

As Foreign Minister Fabius said a moment ago, we want an agreement that’s solid. We want an agreement that will guarantee that we are holding any kind of program that continues in Iran accountable to the highest standards so that we know that it is, in fact, a peaceful program. All of us in the P5+1 are deeply committed to ensuring that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon. And we continue to believe that a comprehensive deal that includes intrusive access and verification measures, and blocks each of the pathways to securing fissile material for a bomb and then to try and make a bomb itself, that the best way to achieve the goal is to shut off those pathways.

Now, I agree with Laurent. We have exactly the same assessment. We have made progress, but there remain gaps – divergences, as he said. And we need to close those gaps. And that is our goal over the course of the next days. We have a critical couple of weeks ahead of us. We’re all mindful that the days are ticking by. But we’re not feeling a sense of urgency that we have to get any deal. We have to get the right deal. And it is frankly up to Iran – that wants this program, that wants a peaceful program, that asserts that they have a peaceful program – to show the world that it is indeed exactly what they say. That’s the measure here. And we planned a return to the talks. Starting next Sunday, different folks will be having different conversations, and we look forward to trying to drive this thing to an appropriate conclusion. And we will find out whether or not Iran is prepared to take the steps to answer the questions that the world has a right to get answers to.

I’d be happy to take any questions. Laurent, you --

FOREIGN MINISTER FABIUS: (In French.)

Hello. Madam (inaudible).

QUESTION: Thank you. Mr. Foreign Minister, you said yesterday the deal doesn’t go far enough in the extent and duration of Iran’s commitments. What are your primary areas of concern? Is it enrichment capacity, breakout time, how long Iran will accept constraints on its enrichment activities, what happens when the agreement expires? Did you make specific suggestions to Mr. Kerry today on how the agreement can be improved?

And Mr. Secretary, also relating to the Foreign Minister’s comments yesterday, do you agree the deal does not go far enough in terms of the extent and duration of commitments? What will you say to your partners today to reassure them about the progress of the talks? Also, Iran’s nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, said today Iran has put forward technical proposals to the U.S. to overcome their concerns. He said the impasse over technical issues is over. Do you share this assessment? Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER FABIUS: (In French.)

Under no circumstances Iran will never seek nor possess any nuclear weapon.

(In French.)

SECRETARY KERRY: I agree completely with the comments of Foreign Minister Fabius, particularly with respect to the picture that he just drew of what happens if you don’t have a good, solid agreement. All of us have an interest in making certain that the countries in the region feel sufficiently convinced that this agreement is meaningful – that it will hold, that it’s real, and that they’re secure – so that they don’t in fact make matters worse by all engaging in the development of a program because they feel threatened.

So our obligation is, as Laurent just said, not to each other, not just to those of us in the talks. It’s to a much broader community – in fact, to the world. Because we are also deeply involved in trying to denuclearize North Korea, and there are any number of other players in the world who might at some point think that they would be advantaged by proceeding down this road. So this – the stakes here are higher than just this P5+1-plus-Iran negotiation.

I also agree – and I said at the beginning of my comments, we are on the same page. If we didn’t think that there was further to go, as Laurent said, we’d have had an agreement already. The reason we don’t have an agreement is we believe there are gaps that have to be closed. There are things that have to be done to further strengthen this. We know this. And we have not resolved – now, like Laurent, I’m not going to stand here now and negotiate with you in public and give you a whole bunch of differentials. That’s what we’re going to go do, all of us together.

But the bottom line is that everybody knows what matters here: the length of this – the length and duration, the levels of visibility, the control, as Laurent said, the issue of verification and knowledge. All of these are key. This is an arms control agreement. They have been negotiated for a long period of time, particularly before between the Western world and the former Soviet Union. So we know something about these. We have a track record of standards. We have a track record of IAEA requirements. We have a track record of mistakes and we understand what we need to do.

So the proof will be in an agreement if it is reached. And none of us are going to, I think, publicly start to lay out numbers and equations here. We know what we’re chasing after, and we’re chasing after the same thing, all of us in the P5+1. That’s what’s important.

FOREIGN MINISTER FABIUS: (In French.)

QUESTION: (Inaudible), Al Arabiya (inaudible). Secretary Kerry, you have said on Thursday that Iran is still supporting terrorism, while General Dempsey was telling senators that Iran’s role in Iraq might be positive. Does that mean that according to the United States, Iran is fighting terrorism in Iraq and supporting it in Syria and in Yemen? Would you clarify this divergence between the two statements?

(In French.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, let me answer that very directly. The advance on Tikrit is an Iraqi-designed and an Iraqi-controlled advance. And Prime Minister Abadi himself went out to the front several days beforehand. He briefed our people and others on what their plans were. There are Sunni tribes involved in this effort. There are Iraqi armed forces involved. And yes, there are some militias involved, and yes, some of those militias are receiving direction from General Soleimani and from Iran. That’s a fact.

But we’re not coordinating with them. We’re not discussing this with them. I think what General Dempsey said is a matter of pure common sense and fact. If Iran kills a bunch of ISIL/Daesh on the ground, and it serves the interests of Iraq and the rest of us, that might wind up helping, but it doesn’t mean that we accept in any way their behavior with respect to other things they’re doing in Yemen, in Beirut, in Damascus, elsewhere.

So yes, they have been engaged in these other activities. That’s why they are a designated country. And the truth is that’s not on the table in this discussion. Our goal is ultimately to change the behavior and ultimately try to affect these other places. But for the moment, the key is to prevent them from having a nuclear weapon. Because if this country that is engaged in these other activities has a nuclear weapon, you got a whole different ballgame.

So let’s keep our eye on the priority. Priority number one is to not have a pathway to a nuclear weapon and guarantee that this program is peaceful. And as I have said to our friends in the region and elsewhere, the next day, if we get an agreement, we continue to have disagreements over these other kinds of activities. And that will be the next layer of effort, is to try to work at changing the whole dynamic. But that’s not what’s on the table here right now. And I think General Dempsey was simply speaking to a kind of common sense judgment about one moment, but only a moment in this unfolding process.

FOREIGN MINISTER FABIUS: (In French.)

Thursday, January 29, 2015

ALLEGED FUGITIVE SEX OFFENDER APPREHENDED IN SAUDI ARABIA

FROM:  U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE 
Contact:
January 26, 2015 Nathan Alexander, Deputy U.S. Marshal
District of Arizona - Tucson 
Fugitive Sex Offender Captured in Saudi Arabia

Tucson, AZ – U.S. Marshals tracked Matthew Lynn Brewster, age 50, formerly of Tucson, Arizona, to Saudi Arabia where he was detained and subsequently returned to the United States earlier today.

In April 2014, the Pima County Sheriff's Office obtained a warrant for the arrest of Matthew L. Brewster, which charged him with multiple counts of Sexual Conduct with a Minor under the age of Fifteen, a class two felony. Pima County Sheriff's Office officials enlisted the assistance of the United States Marshals led Arizona WANTED Violent Offender Fugitive Task Force, which includes the Pima County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Investigative Strike Team to locate and arrest Brewster.

Deputy U.S. Marshals quickly developed information which indicated Brewster had fled the United States in 2010 and traveled to Saudi Arabia. An investigation by task force members in Tucson and the United States Marshals Service National Sex Offender Targeting Center revealed Brewster was residing in a compound in Khamis Mushayt, Saudi Arabia, and had no intention of returning to the United States. Deputy U.S. Marshals initiated an international investigation and coordinated with foreign authorities to locate and detain Brewster in Saudi Arabia and have him returned to the United States.

“This criminal and other sex offenders are at the forefront of our investigations,” said District of Arizona United States Marshal David P. Gonzales. “Despite the best attempts of fugitive sex offenders to avoid the law, the U.S. Marshals Service prioritizes their apprehension, ensuring their whereabouts are known and preventing other innocent children and adults from being victimized. Regardless of where these criminals seek refuge, the United States Marshals Service will relentlessly pursue them.”

In January of 2015, Brewster was taken into custody by the Saudi Arabian Immigration Service and held pending deportation proceedings. On January 26th, Brewster was escorted back to Los Angeles, CA by Saudi Arabian Immigration Officers, where he was arrested by members of the U.S. Marshals Service Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force. Brewster is being held in California pending extradition to Arizona to face charges on six separate counts of Sexual Conduct with a Minor, which pertain to various acts of sexual conduct that he allegedly committed with a minor over a three year period in Tucson.

The federal, state, and local agencies that comprise the Arizona WANTED Violent Offender Task Force (Tucson Metro Division) include: U.S. Marshals Service; Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Arizona Department of Public Safety; Pima County Adult Probation Office; Arizona Department of Corrections; Tucson Police Department; U.S. Border Patrol; Pima County Sheriff’s Department; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The United States Marshals Service is the nation’s oldest federal law enforcement agency. Annually, U.S. Marshals arrest more than 50 percent of all federal fugitives and serve more federal warrants than all other federal agencies combined.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

SECRETARY KERRY'S STATEMENT ON DEATH OF KING ABDULLAH OF SAUDI ARABIA

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
January 22, 2015

This is a sad day. The United States has lost a friend, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Middle East, and the world has lost a revered leader. King Abdullah was a man of wisdom and vision. I loved my visits with him as a Senator and as Secretary. Even as he battled age and illness, he held on to his sense of determination. His stories of his father and of his family were remarkable. He was so proud of the Kingdom’s journey, a brave partner in fighting violent extremism who proved just as important as a proponent of peace. The courageous Arab Peace Initiative that he sponsored remains a critical document for the goal we shared of two states, Israel and Palestine, living in peace and security. He also made great strides to invest in the Saudi people, and the Kingdom’s infrastructure and economic development. The scholarship program that bears his name represents an enormous, far-sighted contribution to Saudi Arabia’s future prosperity. I know he was very proud of his role as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and as leader of his people.

Teresa and I send our condolences to the family of King Abdullah and to the people of Saudi Arabia and the region.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S STATEMENT ON AIRSTRIKES WITHIN SYRIA

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 
September 23, 2014
Statement by the President on Airstrikes in Syria

South Lawn

10:11 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Good morning, everybody.  Last night, on my orders, America’s armed forces began strikes against ISIL targets in Syria.  Today, the American people give thanks for the extraordinary service of our men and women in uniform, including the pilots who flew these missions with the courage and professionalism that we've come to expect from the finest military that the world has ever known.

Earlier this month, I outlined for the American people our strategy to confront the threat posed by the terrorist group known as ISIL.  I made clear that as part of this campaign the United States would take action against targets in both Iraq and Syria so that these terrorists can't find safe haven anywhere.  I also made clear that America would act as part of a broad coalition.  And that's exactly what we've done.

We were joined in this action by our friends and partners -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, and Qatar.  America is proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with these nations on behalf of our common security.

The strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this is not America’s fight alone.  Above all, the people and governments in the Middle East are rejecting ISIL and standing up for the peace and security that the people of the region and the world deserve.

Meanwhile, we will move forward with our plans, supported by bipartisan majorities in Congress, to ramp up our effort to train and equip the Syrian opposition, who are the best counterweight to ISIL and the Assad regime.  And more broadly, over 40 nations have offered to help in this comprehensive effort to confront this terrorist threat -- to take out terrorist targets; to train and equip Iraqi and Syrian opposition fighters who are going up against ISIL on the ground; to cut off ISIL’s financing; to counter its hateful ideology; and to stop the flow of fighters into and out of the region.

Last night, we also took strikes to disrupt plotting against the United States and our allies by seasoned al Qaeda operatives in Syria who are known as the Khorasan Group.  And once again, it must be clear to anyone who would plot against America and try to do Americans harm that we will not tolerate safe havens for terrorists who threaten our people.

I've spoken to leaders in Congress and I'm pleased that there is bipartisan support for the actions we are taking.  America is always stronger when we stand united, and that unity sends a powerful message to the world that we will do what’s necessary to defend our country.

Over the next several days I will have the opportunity to meet with Prime Minister Abadi of Iraq, and with friends and allies at the United Nations to continue building support for the coalition that is confronting this serious threat to our peace and security.  The overall effort will take time.  There will be challenges ahead.  But we're going to do what’s necessary to take the fight to this terrorist group, for the security of the country and the region and for the entire world.

Thanks.  God bless our troops.  God bless America.

END

Thursday, September 11, 2014

SECRETARY KERRY'S STATEMENT WITH SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER SAUD al-FAISL

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 
Joint Press Statement With Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal
Joint Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Royal Terminal
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
September 11, 2014

FOREIGN MINISTER SAUD: (Via interpreter) In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate, we have held today a regional meeting to combat terrorism with the presidents of all of our states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, in addition to Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and with the presence of the United States of America. This meeting comes in the light of our cooperation to face the threat of terrorism and with the increased activity of terrorist groups in the region.

This danger that is propagating in the region very fiercely, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques has always warned against this danger from a long time ago. The last time he warned against this was in last August when he said that it was a shame that these terrorists undertake these activities in the name of religion. They kill innocent peoples and they cut their victims and they take pride in this in the name of religion. They are killing souls that God has forbidden to kill, and they have disfigured the face of humanity.

His Majesty then called upon all the (inaudible), all the scholars of the Muslim Ummah to do their duty in the face of terrorism and hate and extremism, expressing at the same time that his disappointment about this vis-a-vis the silence of the international community with regard to what’s happening in our region. He also urged the leaders of the world and expressed a message towards these leaders when he received ambassadors on August 29th that it’s important to fight against this legion with force, wiseness, and speed. He warned that neglecting it will lead to its wide spread in Europe and America in a few months.

I would like also to refer to the statement of His Excellency the President of the United States Barack Obama and its various contents that reflect the seriousness in the fight against terrorism, including its stress on following terrorists, pursuing terrorists wherever they are.

Our meeting today was a good opportunity to discuss – we have listened today – an outline, explained outline of His Excellency Secretary Kerry about the strategy laid down by the United States to combat terrorism. The meeting today was a good opportunity to discuss this phenomena from all different aspects and perspectives, and to go deep in its roots and causes and reflected keenness to come up with a joint vision to combat it through military means, security means, and intelligence, as well as economic and financial means, and intellectual means also.

The meeting sought to deal with this phenomena from a strategic, comprehensive perspective not only limited to a single country, but extends to deal with this terrorism that strikes Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen – these countries that have become safe haven for these organizations and their networks, in particular with regard to the transfer of weapons and ammunition to them and among them. A case in point: The ISIL terrorist organization, through their – and their infiltration to the borders between Iraq and Syria and their cancellation of these borders, moving freely to Syrian territory with forces and military weapons as safe as they want.

Another important item that we discussed today is the importance of being clear in our plans and policies and to share responsibilities – this, in addition to being serious and continuous in our action to eliminate and wipe out all these terrorist organizations. Inaction and hesitation will not help to uproot this phenomenon. On the opposite, it might encourage its return, and we have learned at great experience in the past years, and this is the best example of this. It’s needless to say that any security action against terrorism to be fruitful and to bear fruit, it has to be accompanied by another action to combat this ideology – erroneous ideology – and also to cut the resources from the terrorists, whether the financial or in terms of weapons, including arms control of the flows from some country that are only interested in destabilizing security and stability of the region and to meddle in its affairs.

In this meeting, we also discussed the volatile political situation in the countries that are plagued with terrorism, which requires the intensification and the strengthening of political efforts in order to support addressing the condition in this countries – in these countries in a way to achieve unity and solidarity between the citizens, whether – and to protect them from racial and sectarian affiliations, and to give them equality of rights and duties.

In conclusion, I would like to point out that within the framework of the efforts required to combat terrorism, we have underlined the importance of maintaining the unity and the sovereignty of the different states, as well as their independence and territorial integrity.

Thank you very much, and I give the floor to His Excellency Secretary Kerry.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, first of all, thanks you very, very much, Your Royal Highness. We are deeply appreciative to you, very grateful for your leadership, for His Majesty King Abdullah and Saudi Arabia’s commitment to this effort, and we thank you for bringing us together today in this very, very important meeting.

This meeting couldn’t happen at a more important time, and frankly, it couldn’t include a more important group of partners. Every single country represented here today, including – especially Iraq, will be a critical part of the effort to destroy ISIL’s ability to terrorize. We’re very grateful to His Royal Highness for helping to facilitate the invitation to Iraq immediately after the formation of the new government as a sign of recognition of the possibilities for a real transformation. And that in and of itself helped to make this meeting more meaningful and more comprehensive.

As all of us know, ISIL is an organization that knows no bounds. It is an organization that rapes and brutalizes women and sells even young girls as brides. They viciously and indiscriminately attack groups of all ethnicities, all sects, any religion, including vulnerable minorities like Christians and Yezidis. And they do so only because those people are not them, because they represent something different. They brutally murder innocent people, including most recently two Americans, whom they beheaded for the world to see in recent weeks. Their barbarity literally knows no limits and they have to be stopped.

Obviously, today is a particularly poignant day for this meeting. Today is September 11th. Thirteen years after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, the devastating consequences of extremist hate remain fresh in the minds of all Americans and so many of our friends and allies around the world. Those consequences are felt everyday here in the Middle East, where extremist ideology in groups like ISIL continue to tear apart communities, restrain growth, stop progress, pursue violence, and repress people, and ignore and oppose any sort of rule of law.

Last night, in response to ISIL, President Obama outlined a clear, unified global strategy to support the Government of Iraq in taking on and destroying ISIL wherever it is found. That strategy is centered in a global coalition of nations, and as I understand – underscored in the meeting that we had today, Arab nations play a critical role in that coalition – the leading role, really, across all lines of effort: military support; humanitarian aid; our work to stop the flow of illegal funds and foreign fighters, which ISIL requires in order to thrive; and certainly, the effort to repudiate once and for all the dangerous, the offensive, the insulting distortion of Islam that ISIL propaganda attempts to spread throughout the region and the world. ISIL attempts to tell people that what they’re doing is somehow based on their notion of Islam and their view of religion. No religion, certainly not a peaceful, great religion like Islam, ever condones the kinds of activities that ISIL engages in.

I’m very pleased to say that the countries that were here today that joined in the communique that is being issued today have all, each of them, committed to play a role in achieving this mission. In the days ahead I will continue to meet with leaders in the region and beyond as we work to build the broadest coalition possible. Developing this global coalition will also be a primary focus of the UN General Assembly later this month.

As my partners here and I discussed today, the world is obviously in the midst of an enormously challenging time. Nothing is easy right now, but the truth is we are moving in a direction that people in countries all across the world can understand in an effort to try to bring peace and stability and prosperity and opportunity, dignity, and respect to the lives of the people in our countries. This is a moment which is one of those rare opportunities in history where leaders making the right choices can actually bend the arc of history in the right direction in the goals – the direction of the goals that we share: peace and prosperity and security for all.

And if we take advantage of this opportunity, what we are doing now could actually become a model for cooperation. It becomes perhaps even a model for addressing extremism and isolating it, as it should be anywhere where it exists. We believe that we’re all up to this task, and we believe that this is what our citizens are asking of us. We believe we will beat back the evil of ISIL and we will fight for the peaceful and secure world that people of all nations, ethnicities, religions, and sects deserve.

And I’m very grateful for the leadership that Saudi Arabia has exhibited in bringing us here for this meeting, and I look forward to continuing to work with all of the colleagues who are part of today’s meeting. It was important; we made progress; the coalition is growing and it now has a clarity of purpose within this region which is essential to our possibilities of success.

So thank you very much, Your Royal Highness. We appreciate it.

FOREIGN MINISTER SAUD: Thank you.

QUESTION: I have two questions. My first question is for Mr. Secretary. Immediately after American President announcement with regards to the strategy, there was three reaction. First, the Russian who said that any military operation, even against the fundamentalists in Iraq and Syria, it has to get the UN mandate. The Bashar regime said any military operation without coordination with the regime --

MODERATOR: Your question, please. Your question.

QUESTION: So do you think that this will be a (inaudible) on your operation against the ISIL?

(In Arabic.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, first of all, Iraq, the Government of Iraq, has invited the United States of America and asked for help. It has asked for help from the United States and has asked for help from its neighbors, from other countries in the region. And under international law, when a country is invaded and a country invites somebody to come in and help them, we have every right in the world to respond to that request.

And I must say if it weren’t so serious, what is happening in Ukraine, one might almost laugh at the idea of Russia raising the issue of international law or of any question at the UN. And I’m really rather surprised that Russia would dare to assert any notion of international law after what has happened in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

FOREIGN MINISTER SAUD: (Via interpreter) Regarding Turkey – and indeed there was no difference at all between Turkey and any member of this meeting. As for the training of the free army, it has areas of training where it conducts its training in all neighboring countries.

QUESTION: (Via interpreter) My question is for you from Al Arabiya. What is the role required from the regional countries, especially for Saudi Arabia, especially with regard to this coalition?

My other question for the foreign minister of – no, the Secretary of State. What are the (inaudible) that you (inaudible) to engage (inaudible) any ground force intervention apart from airstrikes? Or what can be done as far as land intervention is concerned?

FOREIGN MINISTER SAUD: (Via interpreter) Yes, there are efforts undoubtedly from Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has always taken initiatives with regard to a firm position towards terrorists and against them. So there is no limit to what the Kingdom can provide in this regard. So this is the position of the Kingdom. I have not heard from any party to this meeting today, they have not expressed any reservation with regard to the role required from them. So this shows that the Kingdom is determined to face and overcome this scourge.

SECRETARY KERRY: Did you ask about ground troops in Syria or in Iraq? What was your question?

QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Yes, my question is: What are the (inaudible) that the American Government can support, or at least this coalition, as far as ground troops intervention?

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, the current plan, as the President said, no country is talking about placing ground troops, nor do we believe there’s a need to. Iraq has a very sizable army. Some of it needs to be reconstituted and retrained. There will be major efforts to do exactly that. But the current plan of the President is not to engage with foreign troops engaging in this fight. This is a fight where the Syrian opposition and the Iraqi forces themselves have significant capacity. Some of it has to be retrained and refocused; but we are confident that together with the efforts of other countries involved, that will happen and it will be sufficient to the task.

Thank you.

QUESTION: One, Foreign Minister, from the American press? Will you take a question, sir?

FOREIGN MINISTER SAUD: If it’s one.

QUESTION: Your government has been quite critical of the United States over the last year or so for not entirely seeing things – the crisis in Syria – the way you did, and I know you were deeply disappointed by President Obama’s decision last summer not to move ahead with airstrikes then. In light of that, do you feel that President Obama and the United States now see the situation as dire – as being as dire as you did then?

FOREIGN MINISTER SAUD: I only see agreement. I don’t see disagreement. (Laughter.) I see the agreement that we have about the present situation.

Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

SECRETARY KERRY'S STATEMENT ON SAUDI ARABIA'S PLEDGE TO HELP IRAQIS IN NEED

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

U.S. Welcomes Saudi Arabia's 500 Million Dollar Pledge To Help Iraqis in Need

Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
July 1, 2014


Saudi Arabia has made an enormous and very significant commitment to help its neighbor, underscoring that the entire region has a stake in seeing Iraq overcome today's crisis, and achieve stability. Iraq's grave humanitarian crisis affects Shia, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians, and all other religious and ethnic groups. It is worsening by the day and Saudi Arabia's strong show of support will be crucial to alleviating the suffering of all Iraqis displaced by the violence. This half a billion dollar commitment is a powerful statement of solidarity.

We commend the generosity and compassion demonstrated by Saudi Arabia and other donors, and urge others in the international community to join in the international humanitarian response for Iraqi internally displaced persons and to swiftly follow through with their pledges.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

DEFENSE SECRETARY HAGEL ENTERS JORDAN ON NEXT LEG OF TRIP

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

Hagel Continues Middle East Trip in Jordan
By Claudette Roulo
American Forces Press Service

AMMAN, Jordan, May 14, 2014 – Following what he called a “successful” ministerial conference with the U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel left Saudi Arabia today to continue his multiday trip to the Middle East here.

Hagel will meet here with Jordanian Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lt. Gen. Mashal Mohammad Al-Zaben and his senior advisor, Prince Faisal bin Al Hussein, to discuss Eager Lion, an annual combined military exercise that involves 6,000 U.S. personnel, as well as a variety of security challenges facing the region, a senior defense official said.

“Also, it’s an opportunity to hear from the general directly about the threats they’re facing from Syria, the humanitarian situation in Jordan … and the security implications of the Syria crisis on Jordan,” the official said.
More than 1,000 U.S. personnel are stationed in Jordan as part of a Patriot detachment, an F-16 deployment and a U.S. Central Command forward planning element.

Before leaving Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Hagel met with defense ministers from all six member nations of the GCC -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The strong bilateral relationships the United States maintains with its Gulf partners reflect the nation’s commitment to the region’s security, the defense secretary said.

“But the security challenges facing this region threaten the region as a whole, and no one nation can address them alone,” he added.

The United States offered several proposals at the ministerial, all intended to further develop regional cooperation, the defense secretary said.

“Following today’s productive discussions, the ministers have agreed to meet in the region on a regular basis,” he said. In addition, the vice ministers will meet in Washington before the end of the year, a meeting that is expected to become a twice-yearly event, a defense official said.

Council attendees reaffirmed their commitment to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Hagel said. “While we noted that Iran’s diplomatic engagement has been a positive development,” he added, “we continue to share deep concerns about Iran’s destabilizing activities throughout the region.”

The defense leaders also pledged to deepen their cooperation in support of the Syrian opposition, the defense secretary said.

“We agreed that our assistance must be complimentary -- and that it must be carefully directed to the moderate opposition,” Hagel noted.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

DEFENSE SECRETARY HAGEL, SAUDI CROWN PRINCE SALMAN DISCUSS STRATEGIC AND DEFENSE PARTNERSHIP

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

Hagel, Saudi Crown Prince Discuss Threat, Challenges
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel meets with Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who also serves as first deputy prime minister and defense minister, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2014. DOD photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo.

Hagel Thanks Saudi Crown Prince for Hosting Conference
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 13, 2014 – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel met with Saudi Crown Prince Salman this evening in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said.

In a statement, Kirby said this is the third meeting Hagel has had with the crown prince and noted that it follows President Barack Obama's visit in March.
Hagel expressed his appreciation for Saudi Arabia hosting the first U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council defense ministerial conference since 2008, Kirby said, and noted the significance of such a gathering of these leaders at this time.
“Secretary Hagel congratulated the crown prince on Saudi Arabia's successful completion of the Sword of Abdullah military exercise,” the press secretary added. “The two leaders reaffirmed the importance of the U.S.-Saudi strategic and defense partnership and shared challenges, including Iran and Syria. They pledged to continue to work together to deepen U.S.-Saudi defense cooperation.”

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

PRESS GAGGLE WITH BEN RHODES

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

Press Gaggle by Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes

Aboard Air Force One
En Route Brussels, Belgium 
March 25, 2014

9:19 P.M. CET

Q    And comments on the denial of a Saudi visa to the Jerusalem Post Washington’s bureau chief?

MR. RHODES:  I'll say basically what we said, which is that we were very disappointed by the Saudi decision.  We expressly reached out to the Saudi government through multiple channels when we became aware of this issue.  We made it clear how important it was to us that this journalist, like any other journalist, have access to cover the President’s trip.  And we'll continue to raise our concerns with the Saudis about why this journalist was denied a visa and about our very strong objections to their decision.

Q    What was the reason?

MR. RHODES:  They did not give a reason.  Again, any journalist should be able to cover the President’s trip if they have the appropriate credentials to do so, and it certainly should not be the case that the affiliation of a journalist should in any way count against their ability to do their job just because they work for the Jerusalem Post.

Q    That didn’t cause you guys to reconsider going to Saudi Arabia or anything like that?

MR. RHODES:  No.  Look, we have disagreements with Saudi Arabia on a number of issues.  We obviously have had disagreements in the past as it relates to some issues associated with Israel, some issues associated with human rights.  But we also share a significant set of interests with Saudi Arabia.  They’re a very important partner of ours in the Gulf, and we believe it's better to have the type of relationship where we can cooperate but also be clear and honest with one another where we have differences.

Q    Thanks, Ben.

END
9:21 P.M. CET

Friday, January 24, 2014

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM REMARKS BY SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY

FROM:  STATE DEPARTMENT 
Remarks at the World Economic Forum
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Davos, Switzerland
January 24, 2014

Well, Klaus, thank you very, very much. It’s an enormous pleasure for me to be back in Davos and to have this opportunity to be able to share some thoughts with all of you about American foreign policy. And I have – as Klaus just said to you all, I have had the privilege of being here many times over the past 20 years. I always appreciate the diversity of thought and the thirst for new ideas that really characterizes this forum. It’s safe to say that Davos pushes the limits of thinking, tries hard to find the new thinking, and that’s really what makes this forum so special. So Klaus, I congratulate you on many, many years of putting together a really remarkable venue for everybody.

Today, I want to share our latest thinking with respect to the role that U.S. diplomacy can play in addressing some of the most pressing foreign policy challenges that we face in an obviously extraordinarily complex, very different world from the world of the last century.

I must say I am perplexed by claims that I occasionally hear that somehow America is disengaging from the world, this myth that we are pulling back or giving up or standing down. In fact, I want to make it clear today that nothing could be further from the truth. This misperception, and in some case, a driven narrative, appears to be based on the simplistic assumption that our only tool of influence is our military, and that if we don’t have a huge troop presence somewhere or we aren’t brandishing an immediate threat of force, we are somehow absent from the arena. I think the only person more surprised than I am by the myth of this disengagement is the Air Force pilot who flies the Secretary of State’s plane.

Obviously, our engagement isn’t measured in frequent flier miles – though it would be pretty nice if I got a few, as a matter of fact – but it is really measured – and I think serious students of foreign policy understand this – it is measured by the breadth of our global commitments, their depth, especially our commitments to our allies in every corner of the world. It is measured by the degree of difficulty of the crises and the conflicts that we choose to confront, and it is measured ultimately by the results that we are able to achieve.

Far from disengaging, America is proud to be more engaged than ever, and, I believe, is playing as critical a role, perhaps as critical as ever, in pursuit of peace, prosperity, and stability in various parts of the world.

Right here in Europe, we are working with our partners to press the Government of Ukraine to forgo violence, to address the concerns of peaceful protesters, to foster dialogue, promote the freedom of assembly and expression. And I literally just received messages before walking in here of the efforts of our diplomats on the ground working with President Yanukovych to try to achieve calm and help move in this direction in the next days. We will stand with the people of Ukraine.

We’re also making progress towards finalizing the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which would link the world’s largest market, the EU, with the world’s single largest economy, the United States, raising standards and creating jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.

In the Asia Pacific region, we are negotiating the Trans Pacific Partnership, which will similarly encourage a race to the top, not the bottom, as it unifies 40 percent of the world’s economy. The United States is working extremely closely with China and our allies in the region in order to address North Korea’s reckless nuclear program, and also on diplomatic priorities like disaster relief and development. I was recently in the Philippines, and in a few weeks, I will be back in Asia, my fifth trip as Secretary of State within a year. We are working with our ASEAN partners to discourage escalatory steps and conflict in the South China Sea. And this is a critical part of the President’s rebalance to Asia.

Across Africa, the home to seven of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies, we are investing heavily in both development and trade. And in the Great Lakes region, we just recently helped end an armed rebellion, demobilizing the M23 armed group. And just yesterday, thanks to our diplomatic intense engagement on the ground, we have helped to achieve a ceasefire in South Sudan. And I can tell you that almost every day during the so-called Christmas break, I was on the phone to either President Kiir or to former Vice President Riek Machar or to the prime minister of Ethiopia or President Museveni of Uganda as we worked diligently to try to move towards peace.

Closer to home, we just completed a U.S.-Canada-Mexico summit in Washington last week in preparation for our leaders who will focus on increased cooperation in our hemisphere, a North American effort for renewed entrepreneurship, renewable energy, and educational exchanges.

So after a decade that was perhaps uniquely, and in many people’s view, unfortunately, excessively defined foremost by force and our use of force, we are entering an era of American diplomatic engagement that is as broad and as deep as any at any time in our history. And such are the responsibilities of a global power.

The most bewildering version of this disengagement myth is about a supposed retreat by the United States from the Middle East. Now, my response to that suggestion is simple: You cannot find another country – not one country – that is as proactively engaged, that is partnering with so many Middle Eastern countries as constructively as we are on so many high-stake fronts. And I want to emphasize that last point: partnering. We have no pretense about solving these problems alone. Nor is anyone suggesting, least of all me, that the United States can solve every one of the region’s problems or that every one of them can be a priority at the same time.

But as President Obama made clear last fall at the United Nations, the United States of America will continue to invest significant effort in the Middle East because we have enduring interests in the region, and we have enduring friendships with countries that rely on us for their security in a volatile neighborhood. We will defend our partners and our allies as necessary, and we will continue to ensure the free flow of energy, dismantle terrorist networks, and we will not tolerate the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Now in reality, all three of these challenges and the relationships that surround them and accomplishing all of these goals requires, in President Obama’s words, for the United States to “be engaged in the region for the long haul.”

From security cooperation with our Gulf partners like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with whom we are both discussing longer-term security framework for the region, as well as to helping countries in transition like Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, to countering al-Qaida and its affiliates, to ensuring stability for the world’s shipping lanes and energy supply, there is no shortage of the places where we are engaged in the Middle East.

So the question isn’t whether we’re leaving. The question is how we are leading. Today, we believe that there are initiatives that, taken together, have the potential to reshape the Middle East and could even help create the foundations of a new order.

First, the agreement that we reached with Iran. As of this week, Iran’s nuclear weapons program is being rolled back in important ways. On Monday, Iran took a series of steps that the world has long demanded, including reducing its stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium, disabling the infrastructure for its production, and allowing unprecedented transparency and monitoring to guarantee Iran is complying with the agreement.

They will have to reduce their 20 percent to zero, and they do not have and will not have the capacity for reconversion. They will have to reduce it to forms that are not suitable for making weapons. Iran must also halt enrichment above 5 percent and it will not be permitted to grow the current stockpile of 3.5 percent enriched uranium. Iran cannot increase the number of centrifuges that are in operation, and it cannot install or use any next-generation centrifuges to enrich uranium. And while we negotiate a final agreement over these next months, Iran will not be permitted to take any steps to commission the Arak plutonium reactor.

Now clearly, there are good reasons to ask tough questions of Iran going forward – and believe me, we will – and good reasons to require that the promises Iran made are promises kept. Remember – we certainly haven’t forgotten – there is a reason that world has placed sanctions on Iran. There’s a reason why they exist in the first place. And there’s a reason why the core architecture of those sanctions remains in place. And that is why this effort is grounded not in trusting, not in words, but in testing. And that is why now inspectors can be at Fordow every day.

That wasn’t the case before the agreement we struck. Inspectors can now also be at Natanz every day. That’s also new, thanks to the agreement we struck. And inspectors will visit Arak plutonium plant every month, and they are under an obligation to deliver the plans for that plant to us.

Taken altogether, these elements will increase the amount of time that it would take for Iran to break out and build a bomb – the breakout time, as we call it – and it will increase our ability to be able to detect it and to prevent it. And all of this will to an absolute guarantee beyond any reasonable doubt make Israel safer than it was the day before we entered this agreement, make the region safer than it was the day before we entered this agreement, and make the world safer than it was.

Now yesterday, President Rouhani stood here and he said that Iran is eager to engage with the world, and hopefully. But Iran knows what it must do to make that happen. He told you that Iran has no intention of building a nuclear weapon. Well, while the message is welcome, my friends, the words themselves are meaningless unless actions are taken to give them meaning. Starting now, Iran has the opportunity to prove these words beyond all doubt to the world.

Now, let’s be clear: If you are serious about a peaceful program, it is not hard to prove to the world that your program is peaceful. For sure, a country with a peaceful nuclear program does not need to build enrichment facilities in the cover of darkness in the depth of a mountain. It doesn’t need a heavy water reactor designed to produce weapons-grade plutonium, like the one at Arak. It has no reason to fear intrusive monitoring and verification. And it should have no problem resolving outstanding issues with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

This is true for every country in the world with an exclusively peaceful nuclear program. And it is the tough but reasonable standard to which Iran must also be held.

So we welcome this week’s historic step. But now the hard part begins, six months of intensive negotiations with the goal of resolving all the international community’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear program. I want to say that the P5+1 has acted in unity, in great cooperation, and we welcome the international community’s efforts that has characterized this initiative.

So Iran must meet this test. If it does, the Middle East will be a safer place, free from the fear of a nuclear arms race. And diplomatic engagement, my friends, backed by sanctions and other options, will have proved its worth.

The second challenge is Syria, where an enormous, almost unimaginable human tragedy is unfolding before our eyes. Just this week, we have seen the terrible new evidence of torture at the hands of the Assad regime. But this week we also saw the Syrian regime and the opposition sit at the same table in the same room – or separate tables but in the same room – for the first time since the war began. They were joined by more than 40 countries and institutions who have assented to the Geneva communique, which clearly outlines how this conflict must conclude: With the creation of a transitional government with full executive authority by mutual consent.

Let me tell you in simple terms why that means Bashar al-Assad cannot be part of that future. It is simple. It is first because of the extraordinary havoc that he has wreaked on his own country, on his own people; a man who has killed university students and doctors with Scud missiles; a man who has gassed his own people in the dead of night – families sleeping, women, children, grandparents; a man who has unleashed extraordinary force of artillery and barrel bombs against civilians against the laws of warfare. Assad will never have or be able to earn back the legitimacy to bring that country back together.

That’s number one. But number two, because of those things that he has done, because of 130,000 people who have been killed, the opposition will never stop fighting while he is there. And so if your objective is to have peace, this one man must step aside in favor of peace and of his nation. You can never achieve stability until he is gone. And finally, any transitional government formed by mutual consent by definition will not include Assad because the opposition will never consent to permit him to be there.

The United States is engaged in this difficult endeavor because we know that the longer the fighting continues, the greater the risk that Syria’s sectarian divisions will spiral out of control. We know there are people who wish that American young men and women who were on the ground fighting for them – there are people who would love to see America fight the war for them. But that is not the choice.

The choice is first diplomacy in order to avoid the devastating results that could result in the disintegration of the Syrian state, and the instability that could spread across the entire region. We are engaged because the number of refugees pouring into Jordan – I see our friend Nasser Judeh, the foreign minister here – into Lebanon, and Turkey is destabilizing and it’s unsustainable.

We are engaged because, while we are proud to be the largest contributor to the humanitarian assistance to deal with those refugees, the ultimate solution can only come when we stop the supply of refugees, when we stop the fighting. And that can’t happen soon enough because Assad continues to kill and displace innocent Syrians, and in doing so has become the world’s greatest single individual magnet for jihad and terror.

Absent a political solution, we know where this leads: more refugees, more terrorists, more extremism, more brutality from the regime, more suffering for the Syrian people. And we do not believe that we or anyone should tolerate one man’s brutal effort to cling to power. We must instead empower all of the Syrian people.

That is why the United States and our partners who sat around that table this week will continue to fight for a pluralistic, inclusive Syria where all minorities are protected, where all rights are protected, and where Syria can come together to be once again the secular and unified state that it was, represented by a government of the people’s choice where all minorities are protected.

Now, we believe this vision is achievable, and we will continue to work closely with our partners for a new Syria that can exist peacefully as a sovereign, independent, and democratic state where Syrians will be able to able have their voices heard without fear of retribution, imprisonment, or even death.

Now obviously, we know this isn’t going to be easy. In fact, it’s obviously very, very hard. It’s already hard. But we’ve already seen in Syria what forceful diplomacy is able to achieve. As we speak, a man who, the day before he agreed to do it, denied he even had the weapons, is now removing all the chemical weapons from that country. As we speak, the international community is on its way to completely removing all of Syria’s chemical weapons, an unprecedented undertaking that is making the region and the world safer and is setting an example on a global basis.

We are convinced that if the Syrian people are to have the chance to rebuild their country and if millions of Syrian refugees are to have the chance to return home, it is ultimately diplomacy that will make it possible. There is no military solution to the problem of Syria.

And that brings me to the most intractable of all conflicts: the struggle to make peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Every time I meet my foreign counterparts, anywhere in the world – when they visit me in Washington or when I travel to their countries – I am not kidding you when I tell you that invariably the first issue that they ask me about is the challenge of Middle East peace. It may seem improbable to you, but I’m telling you it’s absolutely true. From Asia to Latin America to Africa, all through Europe, this question lingers. This intractable conflict has confounded administration after administration, prime minister after prime minister, leaders, and peacemakers. And they always ask this about the Middle East even before they complain about what we’re doing or not doing, ironically.

Despite this global interest, my friends, people still ask me – I’m astonished by it – why, with all the troubles in the world, and in the Middle East in particular, why is the Obama Administration so focused on trying to forge Israeli-Palestinian peace? And obviously, I’ve had that question directed at me in personal and in other ways. Well, the reason that we are so devoted to trying to find a solution is really very simple: Because the benefits of success and the dangers of failure are enormous for the United States, for the world, for the region, and most importantly, for the Israeli and Palestinian people. After all the years expended on this, the last thing we need is a failure that will make certain additional conflict.

There are some people who assert this may be the last shot. I don’t know the answer to that. I don’t want to find out the hard way. But I want you to consider what happens if talks fail. For Israel, the demographic dynamic will make it impossible to preserve its future as a democratic, Jewish state. Israel’s current relative security and prosperity doesn’t change the fact that the status quo cannot be sustained if Israel’s democratic future is in fact to be secured. Today’s status quo, my friends, I promise you will not last forever.

President Abbas is committed to negotiation and to nonviolence. But failure will only embolden extremists and empower hardliners at the expense of the moderates who have been committed to a nonviolent track to try to find peace. And what would happen in the West Bank without that commitment to nonviolence?

The Israeli and Palestinian members of Breaking the Impasse initiative who are here today know well what is at stake. Israel’s economic juggernaut is a wonder to behold. Prime Minister Netanyahu was able to talk to you about it here today. But a deteriorating security environment and the growing isolation that could come with it could put that prosperity at risk.

Meanwhile, if this fails, Palestinians will be no closer to the sovereignty that they seek, no closer to their ability to be the masters of their own fate, no closer to their ability to grow their own economy, no closer to resolving the refugee problem that has been allowed to fester for decades. And if they fail to achieve statehood now, there is no guarantee another opportunity will follow anytime soon.

This issue cannot be resolved at the United Nations. It can only be resolved between the parties. If peace fails, the region risks another destabilizing crisis. One unilateral act from one side or the other will beget another, and yet another, and another, until we have fallen yet again into a dangerous downward spiral at a time where there’s already too much danger in the region.

And you know what’s interesting? We often spend so much time talking about what both parties stand to lose without peace that we actually sometimes forget to talk enough about what they stand to gain from peace. I believe that the fact that peace is possible, especially in a region with so much tension and turmoil, ought to motivate people.

Palestinians stand to gain, above all else, an independent, viable, contiguous state, their own place among the community of nations. Imagine this time next year here in Davos if Palestinian businessmen and government leaders from the state of Palestine are able to pitch the world’s largest investors a host of projects from the Palestinian Economic Initiative. And imagine if they could be invited to participate in building a new state with new jobs, new infrastructure, and a new life free from occupation.

And for Israel, the benefits of peace are enormous as well, perhaps even more significant. For starters, no nation on earth stands to gain so many new economic partners so quickly as Israel does, because 20 additional members – nations of the Arab League and 35 Muslim countries stand ready under the Arab Peace Initiative to all recognize Israel and normalize relations the moment a peace agreement is reached.

As Sheikh Abduallah bin Zaid said at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Arab League, which we held in Paris a few months ago, he said to his minister colleagues – completely spontaneously, unexpected from me, he said, “You know what? After peace, Israel will enjoy greater economic benefit from relations with the Gulf than it now enjoys with Europe.” That’s the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates.

Just imagine what that would mean for commerce and trade. Stanley Fischer, the former governor of the Bank of Israel who President Obama has nominated to serve on our own Federal Reserve Board, said that a peace agreement with the Palestinians could boost Israel’s GDP by as much as 6 percent a year.

And together, the Jewish state of Israel and the Arab state of Palestine can develop into an international hub for technology, for trade, tourism – tourism, unbelievable tourism, the holy sites of the world, of the major three religions. This would invigorate a region. It is long past time that the people of this great and ancient part of the world became known for what they can create, not for the conflicts that they can perpetrate. It is long past time that Jerusalem – the crucible of the world’s three great monotheistic religions – becomes known not as the object of constant struggle, but as the golden city of peace and unity, embodying the aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians alike.

The truth is that after decades of struggling with this conflict, we all know what the endgame looks like: an independent state for Palestinians wherever they may be; security arrangements for Israel that leave it more secure, not less; a full, phased, final withdrawal of the Israeli army; a just and agreed solution to the Palestinian refugee problem; an end to the conflict and all claims; and mutual recognition of the nation-state of the Palestinian people and the nation-state of the Jewish people.

That is our destination. And the real challenge is not what is it; it’s just how to get there – how to get the leaders and the body politic of both places to make the courageous decisions necessary to embrace what would be fair and what would work. That’s why I am working with President Abbas and with Prime Minister Netanyahu to achieve a framework for the negotiations that will define the endgame and all the core issues, and provide guidelines for the negotiators in their efforts to achieve a final-status peace agreement.

I have watched over 30 years in the United States Senate. I was on the lawn in Washington when the great handshake took place. I’ve watched Annapolis and Wye and Madrid and Oslo and all of these efforts, but always we’ve left out the endgame. Always, people have had to wonder when or if the real peace could be achieved.

One of the biggest challenges in reaching this agreement, I will tell you, my friends, is security. The Palestinians need to know that at the end of the day, their territory is going to be free of Israeli troops, that occupation ends; but the Israelis rightfully will not withdraw unless they know that the West Bank will not become a new Gaza. And nobody can blame any leader of Israel for being concerned about that reality. We have been working hard on addressing this challenge. President Obama’s approach begins with America’s steadfast commitment to Israel’s security. He knows and I know that there cannot be peace unless Israel’s security and its needs are met.

We have put the full range of resources of the U.S. Government behind this effort in an unprecedented way. For the past nine months, a team led by General John Allen – a four-star general and one of the most respected minds in the U.S. military – has been engaged in a comprehensive security dialogue with our Israeli and Palestinian counterparts.

Based on his efforts, we are confident that, together with Israel, working with Jordan, working with the Palestinians, working with us, all of us together can create a security structure that meets the highest standards anywhere in the world. And by developing a layered defense that includes significantly strengthening the fences on both sides of the border, by deploying state-of-the-art technology, with a comprehensive program of rigorous testing, we can make the border safe for any type of conventional or unconventional threat, from individual terrorists or a conventional armed force. We are well aware that technology alone is not the answer, but we also know that it can play a key role in helping to secure the Jordanian border, just like Iron Dome has played a key role in securing Israel’s southern communities.

Security is a priority because we understand that Israel has to be strong to make peace, but we also believe that peace will make Israel stronger. We are convinced that the greatest security of all will actually come from a two-state solution that brings Israel the lasting peace and secure borders that they deserve, and brings Palestinians the freedom and the dignity that they deserve.

As committed as we are, it is ultimately up to the Israelis and the Palestinians to reach an agreement on how to end this conflict. Make no mistake: this will require difficult political decisions and painful compromises on both sides. These are emotional issues, many embedded in age-old narratives. At the end of the day, it is up to Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas to recognize what the world has recognized: that peace is in the best interests of their people. But that makes it no less true that at every level, everybody has a role to play. The Arab League and the European Union have already shown how they can pave the way for peace, and they have been unbelievably cooperative, and we’re grateful for their help. I thank King Abdullah of Jordan and Nasser Judeh and the extraordinary efforts of Jordan to help move this; the Arab League Nabil Elaraby, and Khalid Atiyah, the leader of the Arab League Follow-On Committee that is working month to month to stay current and to be engaged in this.

Many states have made contributions to the Palestinian economy, including a micro-infrastructure initiative that is making a difference to people’s everyday lives. Many companies, including some of you here, have invested in both Israel and the Palestinian territories, and you’ve shown the difference that the private sector can make in this endeavor. And all of you can make a positive contribution by dismissing, please, the all-too-easy skepticism by seeing the possibilities and by building the momentum for peace.

Successful diplomacy, like the conversations here at Davos, demands the kind of cooperation that has to come from many stakeholders. As Klaus Schwab says, in an interconnected world, all challenges must be addressed on the basis of togetherness. That is true, whether you’re talking about this peace effort or about what we must achieve in Syria, or about what we must ensure in Iran. Intensive, creative, strong diplomacy requires cooperation, and that is exactly why the United States is so engaged in the Middle East and around the world, and why we will stay so.

As our friends and partners take courageous steps forward, they can be assured that President Obama and his Administration will remain engaged for the long haul. But we will also confront these challenges with the urgency that they deserve. We dare not, and I sure you, we will not miss this moment.

Thank you. (Applause.)

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