ADDIS ABABA: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday offered guarded praise to China for brokering a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran, saying it could benefit the region.
“From our perspective, anything that can help reduce tensions, avoid conflict and deter in any way dangerous and destabilising actions by Iran is a good thing,” Blinken told reporters on a visit to Ethiopia.
“I think it’s valuable that countries, where they can, take action, take responsibility for advancing security, for advancing peaceful relations,” he said.
China, a major oil importer, last week concluded the deal to restore relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The United States frequently denounces China’s role in the world as destabilising, though it has also said that Beijing needs to take greater responsibility in international affairs if it wants to be a major power.
Blinken says China’s brokering of Saudi-Iranian accord ‘good thing’
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Blinken says China’s brokering of Saudi-Iranian accord ‘good thing’
- “From our perspective, anything that can help reduce tensions, avoid conflict and deter in any way dangerous and destabilising actions by Iran is a good thing”: Blinken
US envoy calls for ceasefire deal in northeastern Syria to be maintained
- Tom Barrack, ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy for Syria, reiterates Washington’s support for Jan. 18 integration agreement between Syria’s government and Syrian Democratic Forces
LONDON: Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy for Syria, on Monday reiterated Washington’s desire to ensure the ceasefire agreement in northeastern Syria between Syria’s government and the Syrian Democratic Forces continues.
In a message posted on social media platform X, he wrote: “Productive phone call this evening with his excellency Masoud Barzani to discuss the situation in Syria and the importance of maintaining the ceasefire and ensuring humanitarian assistance to those in need, especially in Kobani.”
Barzani has been the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party since 1979, and served as president of Kurdistan region between 2005 and 2017.
The current present, Nechirvan Barzani, previously welcomed a recent decree by the Syrian president, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, officially recognizing the Kurdish population as an integral part of the country.
Barrack reiterated Washington’s support for efforts to advance the Jan. 18 agreement between Syria’s government and the SDF to integrate the latter into state institutions. The SDF is a Kurdish-led faction led by Mazloum Abdi that operates in northeastern Syria and recently clashed with government forces.
On Saturday, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported that the Syrian Ministry of Defense had announced a 15-day extension of the ceasefire deal.
