JERUSALEM: The US envoy for Iran says the Trump administration will maintain its pressure campaign until the inauguration and anticipates it will be difficult for a future President Joe Biden to bring the US back into the 2015 nuclear agreement.
Elliott Abrams spoke to local journalists on Monday during a visit to Israel, which was staunchly opposed to the nuclear agreement.
“It doesn’t really matter who is president on Jan. 20 in the sense that there’s going to be a negotiation with Iran anyway,” Abrams said, echoing the Trump administration’s position that the US election results are not final until they have been officially certified.
“Whether it is possible to go back to the JCPOA remains to be seen,” he added, referring to the Iran deal.
President-elect Joe Biden has said he hopes to return the US to the agreement with world powers, in which Iran agreed to limit its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions. President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the agreement in 2018 and imposed crippling economic sanctions on Iran, which responded by publicly abandoning nuclear restrictions in the agreement.
Abrams said all US sanctions, including those related to human rights issues and Iran’s support for regional militant groups, would remain in place through Jan. 20.
“We have the maximum pressure sanctions program,” he said. “It will continue in November, it will continue in December, because it’s unrelated to politics, it’s unrelated to elections.”
US envoy says it will be hard to re-enter Iran nuclear deal
https://arab.news/z6zjj
US envoy says it will be hard to re-enter Iran nuclear deal
- ‘It doesn’t really matter who is president on Jan. 20 in the sense that there’s going to be a negotiation with Iran anyway’
UN, aid groups warn Gaza operations at risk from Israel impediments
- Dozens of international aid groups face de-registration by December 31, which then means they have to close operations within 60 days
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations and aid groups warned on Wednesday that humanitarian operations in the Palestinian territories, particularly Gaza, were at risk of collapse if Israel does not lift impediments that include a “vague, arbitrary, and highly politicized” registration process.
Dozens of international aid groups face de-registration by December 31, which then means they have to close operations within 60 days, said the UN and more than 200 local and international aid groups in a joint statement.
“The deregistration of INGOs (international aid groups) in Gaza will have a catastrophic impact on access to essential and basic services,” the statement read.
“INGOs run or support the majority of field hospitals, primary health care centers, emergency shelter responses, water and sanitation services, nutrition stabilization centers for children with acute malnutrition, and critical mine action activities,” it said.
SUPPLIES LEFT OUT OF REACH: GROUPS
While some international aid groups have been registered under the system that was introduced in March, “the ongoing re-registration process and other arbitrary hindrances to humanitarian operations have left millions of dollars’ worth of essential supplies — including food, medical items, hygiene materials, and shelter assistance — stuck outside of Gaza and unable to reach people in need,” the statement read.
Israel’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the statement. Under the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, a fragile ceasefire in the two-year-old war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas began on October 10. Hamas released hostages, Israel freed detained Palestinians and more aid began flowing into the enclave where a global hunger monitor said in August famine had taken hold.
However, Hamas says fewer aid trucks are entering Gaza than was agreed. Aid agencies say there is far less aid than required, and that Israel is blocking many necessary items from coming in. Israel denies that and says it is abiding by its obligations under the truce.
“The UN will not be able to compensate for the collapse of INGOs’ operations if they are de-registered, and the humanitarian response cannot be replaced by alternative actors operating outside established humanitarian principles,” the statement by the UN and aid groups said.
The statement stressed “humanitarian access is not optional, conditional or political,” adding: “Lifesaving assistance must be allowed to reach Palestinians without further delay.”
