JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman welcomed US sanctions that took effect Monday targeting Iran’s oil and financial sectors, calling it a “critical” blow to Tehran’s actions in the region.
“President (Donald) Trump’s bold decision is the sea-change the Middle East has been waiting for,” Lieberman said in a statement.
“In a single move, the United States is dealing a critical blow to Iran’s entrenchment in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq and Yemen. President Trump, you’ve done it again! Thank you.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday also thanked Trump for the sanctions against his country’s main enemy.
The measures described by Washington as “the toughest sanctions ever” follow Trump’s controversial decision in May to abandon the multi-nation nuclear deal with Tehran.
They aim to significantly reduce Iran’s oil exports — which have already fallen by around one million barrels a day since May — and cut it off from international finance.
Israel had long opposed the Iran nuclear deal, saying it was too limited in scope and timeframe.
It also said the lifting of sanctions allowed Iran to finance militant groups and its own military activity.
Israel is particularly concerned with Iran’s involvement in neighboring Syria and has pledged to keep it from entrenching itself militarily there.
The other parties to the nuclear deal — Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia — opposed the US move and say the accord is working as intended in keeping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons for now.
Israel thanks Trump as Iran sanctions take effect
Israel thanks Trump as Iran sanctions take effect
- Israel had long opposed the Iran nuclear deal, saying it was too limited in scope and timeframe
- Other parties to the nuclear deal — Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia — opposed the US move
Syria Kurds chief says ‘all efforts’ being made to salvage deal with Damascus
- Abdi said the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurds’ de facto army, remained committed to the deal
- The two sides were working toward “mutual understanding” on military integration and counter-terrorism
DAMASCUS: Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said Thursday that “all efforts” were being made to prevent the collapse of talks on an agreement with Damascus to integrate his forces into the central government.
The remarks came days after Aleppo saw deadly clashes between the two sides before their respective leaders ordered a ceasefire.
In March, Abdi signed a deal with Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa to merge the Kurds’ semi-autonomous administration into the government by year’s end, but differences have held up its implementation.
Abdi said the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurds’ de facto army, remained committed to the deal, adding in a statement that the two sides were working toward “mutual understanding” on military integration and counter-terrorism, and pledging further meetings with Damascus.
Downplaying the year-end deadline, he said the deal “did not specify a time limit for its ending or for the return to military solutions.”
He added that “all efforts are being made to prevent the collapse of this process” and that he considered failure unlikely.
Abdi also repeated the SDF’s demand for decentralization, which has been rejected by Syria’s Islamist authorities, who took power after ousting longtime ruler Bashar Assad last year.
Turkiye, an important ally of Syria’s new leaders, sees the presence of Kurdish forces on its border as a security threat.
In Damascus this week, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stressed the importance of the Kurds’ integration, having warned the week before that patience with the SDF “is running out.”
The SDF control large swathes of the country’s oil-rich north and northeast, and with the support of a US-led international coalition, were integral to the territorial defeat of the Daesh group in Syria in 2019.
Syria last month joined the anti-IS coalition and has announced operations against the jihadist group in recent days.
