Daily Press Briefing
Elizabeth Trudeau
Director, Press Office
Daily Press Briefing
Washington, DC
April 22, 2016
Index for Today's Briefing
SYRIA
LIBYA
IRAN
SYRIA
AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN
MIDDLE EAST PEACE
SOUTH SUDAN/ETHIOPIA
NORTH KOREA
ARMENIA
MACEDONIA
ECUADOR
IRAN
TRANSCRIPT:
.2:05 p.m. EDT
MS TRUDEAU: Hi, everyone. It's Friday.
QUESTION: Hi. It is.
MS TRUDEAU: Yeah. I have to apologize, we're going to --
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
MS TRUDEAU: Well, of course, Said, if you want to move up. (Laughter.) I have to apologize, the Secretary will be speaking at 2:30 so we're going to do this quickly so you can all watch that. So I have a few things at the top, then we'll get right to your questions.
So first, on Syria. Today Special Envoy de Mistura said he's continuing his discussions with the regime over the humanitarian situation in Syria, and that he plans to continue the current round of talks in Geneva into Wednesday. Over the last several days, Mr. de Mistura has held daily technical meetings with the HNC delegation and cited his discussions with the Syrian opposition as useful and productive. The HNC will have technical teams in Geneva until Tuesday. Mr. de Mistura said he plans on continuing working with the regime and other Syrian groups until next Wednesday. Mr. de Mistura highlighted that after three-plus years of efforts, the discussion of a political transition is now at the center of the process.
On Libya. The United States welcomes the continued and positive steps in Libya since the Government of National Accord entered Tripoli on March 30th, including early progress on peaceful, orderly transition of authority over key ministries and institutions. However, we are concerned by reports this week that spoilers again blocked a vote in the house of representatives on endorsing the cabinet of the new government through tactics that included physically blocking access to the building. As they did in February when the hardline minority also stood in the way of the democratic process, a majority of the house of representative members responded by endorsing the new Libyan Government through a written statement. We stand with those house members who are working to advance the political process despite intimidation. We continue to condemn efforts to undermine the Government of National Accord and the implementation of the Libyan political agreement. We urge all Libyans to continue facilitating a peaceful handover of power so Libya's new leaders can move forward with the hard work of restoring stability to their country.
And with that, I'll go to Nicolas.
QUESTION: Thank you. Can we start with Iran --
MS TRUDEAU: Of course.
QUESTION: -- and the announcement that the U.S. Government is going to buy 32 tons of heavy water to Iran?
MS TRUDEAU: Mm-hmm.
QUESTION: Could you just elaborate – what's this contract about?
MS TRUDEAU: Sure.
QUESTION: And just a technical question: What exactly is heavy water? And is it part of the JCPOA? And don't you fear that politically at home, it will – you will be – the U.S. Administration will be accused again to please the Iran Government given the reaction of the Republicans this morning to this – to this deal?
MS TRUDEAU: Okay, so there's a lot there. So let me start with some sort of broad information. I'll answer your question on what is heavy water, because I had to – I had to get a little research on that, and then we can go on further.
So you're correct, the U.S. Government, via the Department of Energy, is making a license purchase of 32 metric tons of heavy water from a subsidiary of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. This heavy water will fulfill a substantial portion of the U.S. domestic demand this year for industry and domestic research applications. This material is not radioactive and does not present safety concerns. This transaction provides U.S. industry with a critical product while also enabling Iran to sell some of its excess heavy water, as contemplated in the JCPOA. Iran's compliance with the JCPOA meant this material had already been removed from Iran, ensuring it would not be used to support the development of a nuclear weapon.
Our purchase of the heavy water means it will instead be used for critically important research in non-nuclear industrial requirements here in the United States. We expect the heavy water to be delivered to the U.S. in the coming week, initially stored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and then resold to – at commercially reasonable prices to domestic commercial and research buyers.
So on technical details about what heavy water is and details on its implementation, I'm going to refer you to the Department of Energy, but I will say heavy water is used in the development, production, and sale of compounds used in chemistry, biomedical and diagnostic research, environmental analysts, and physics.
So I know you had a question too on U.S. domestic reaction, and our response would be no. This was actually an allowable event that happened. So the U.S. was under no obligation to purchase heavy water from Iran, nor is it obligated to do so in the future, but the JCPOA required Iran to reduce its heavy water inventory below the 130 metric ton limit. One way to do that was to sell the excess to countries or companies. And I'd just note in the future it's possible other countries may wish to purchase that. This was a purchase that was arranged through the Department of Energy for that.
QUESTION: Can I follow up on that?
MS TRUDEAU: Of course you can, Pam.
QUESTION: Thank you. House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce was – is among those who have been critical, saying the deal actually encourages Iran to produce more heavy water to sell. House Speaker Paul Ryan also had some criticism, saying it seemed to be part of an effort to sweeten the nuclear deal with Iran and would directly subsidize Iran's nuclear program. Is there a State concern about this criticism in that the U.S. may be seen as enabling Iran with this purchase?
MS TRUDEAU: No. This limit ensures Iran cannot stockpile heavy water for use in a covert reaction. The IAEA's monitoring and verification measures will ensure that we know if Iran attempts to exceed the limit or divert any of the heavy water for illicit production of plutonium. So, no.
QUESTION: Did the Secretary discuss this with Saudi officials and with other GCC members ahead of the purchase? And if so, what was their reaction?
MS TRUDEAU: So I'd say the discussions regarding this commercial transaction have been ongoing for some time, primarily between the Department of Energy and their Iranian counterparts. And while the contracts were signed today in Vienna, this was a bilateral transaction between the U.S. and Iran.
QUESTION: Can we go to Syria?
QUESTION: No, stay on this topic.
MS TRUDEAU: Wait, are we done on Iran? And then we'll go. Yeah.
QUESTION: Elizabeth, aren't you concerned, though, that you – the United States is subsidizing Iran's nuclear program?
MS TRUDEAU: No. This was a commercial transaction. It actually met a U.S. need, as I outlined in this, and it also helped Iran meet its obligations under the JCPOA.
QUESTION: How much money are we talking about for this?
MS TRUDEAU: It's under 10 million.
QUESTION: But aren't you concerned that some of this "under 10 million" will fund terrorist activities in the future?
MS TRUDEAU: So we've talked about this quite extensively from this podium, as well as elsewhere, Lucas. No one's blind to Iran's unhelpful activities in the region. On this, what we can say is this was a commercial transaction, it was allowable, it fills a need here in the United States.
QUESTION: Will this transaction happen with U.S. dollars or U.S. taxpayer dollars?
MS TRUDEAU: So on that I'm going to refer you to the Department of the Treasury.
QUESTION: But why can't you answer that question? It's a simple yes or no.
MS TRUDEAU: Because that's a question for Treasury.
Thanks. Said.
QUESTION: And what about the sanctions, Elizabeth?
MS TRUDEAU: So this is actually allowable under the JCPOA. If you're talking about future decisions on sanctions, I'm not going to preview that. Okay.
Said.
QUESTION: Can we go Syria real quick?
MS TRUDEAU: Of course.
QUESTION: But by the way, who is transporting the heavy water? Is it U.S. transports or --
MS TRUDEAU: I don't know that. Why don't I have – I'll have our technical people look at that. I think it's probably a question for Energy, but we can take a look.
QUESTION: I want to go to Syria.
MS TRUDEAU: Of course.
QUESTION: You mentioned at the top what Staffan de Mistura said. He also said that the cessation of hostilities is facing a looming danger that it could collapse at any moment. And now, I know Mr. de Mistura is not someone who has a penchant for being hyperbolic or anything.
MS TRUDEAU: Sure.
QUESTION: So he gave it, like, a three-day window, till Wednesday and so on. Can you share with us any information that you might have on this issue, or how to go forward --
MS TRUDEAU: So the President just spoke to this as well, from London. As we've said several times on this, as the President just said, as Mr. de Mistura just said, the cessation of hostilities faces serious threats due to persistent violations by the Assad regime. This is something that we continue to see, we continue to raise. President Obama has stressed to President Putin the importance of pressing the Syrian regime to halt its offensive attacks on that. I'm not going to give a timeline. I don't think I can from this podium. Mr. de Mistura has spoken on this. But we are absolutely concerned.
QUESTION: Okay. How is this, in your opinion, juxtaposed against reports that say that the Syrians, the Russians, and with the help of Iran, are poised to attack Halab, Aleppo in the next --
MS TRUDEAU: In terms of the battlefield movement or these --
QUESTION: So it's almost imminent that --
MS TRUDEAU: Yeah.
QUESTION: -- they are going to move in to liberate Aleppo. Do you have any information on this? Or this could be tied to it in any way?
MS TRUDEAU: I can't say that. I can't say that there's a grand strategy, taking a look at this. I would say the cessation of hostilities, though it has certainly not been perfect – and no one is blind to that – has improved the life for tens, hundreds of thousands of Syrians on a daily basis, which is what we wanted to happen. Is it under threat? Absolutely. The President spoke to this today, as did Mr. de Mistura. Do we think its continued – that there's validity that we continue to press it? Absolutely, because there's no alternative. This provides the ability, as Mr. de Mistura said, where the political transition finally is in place to talk. Okay.
QUESTION: Syria?
MS TRUDEAU: Syria.
QUESTION: Thank you. The tensions between the Kurdish forces and the Assad regime have recently built up. And over the past two days, there have been clashes, resulting in the deaths and wounding of a number of people. Does the United States have a position on that, on this new tension between Assad and the Kurds, who have remain neutral, more or less, towards each other?
MS TRUDEAU: Well, certainly we would say the Peshermga – the Kurds have been some of the most effective fighters on the ground against ISIL, and that's something that we welcome, we've supported, that we have highlighted repeatedly. In terms of these new tensions, I can't speak to that specifically, but I would say certainly the Pesh have been very focused where we need them to.
QUESTION: I'm talking about the Syrian Kurds, not the Peshmerga in Iraq.
MS TRUDEAU: Okay.
QUESTION: The Syrian Kurds who've --
MS TRUDEAU: Is the fight between --
QUESTION: The Assad forces and the Syrian Kurds. It's in Syria.
MS TRUDEAU: Yeah. Okay. So on that, I'm aware of those reports. I don't really have anything to add on that. This is yet again a concern as we take a look at the cessation of hostilities. Okay.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MS TRUDEAU: I know I want to go to Lalit here.
QUESTION: Thank you. I wanted to ask you about the Kabul terrorist attack this week.
MS TRUDEAU: Yes.
QUESTION: Voice of America today ran a big story about quoting presidential spokesperson from Kabul saying that this attack has a hallmark of Taliban and the Haqqani Network and they are putting the blame on the Pakistani establishment because they have direct links with the Haqqani Network.
MS TRUDEAU: And I'm sorry, where was that spokesperson from?
QUESTION: Sorry, Afghanistan's presidential spokesperson.
MS TRUDEAU: Okay. I haven't seen that --
QUESTION: Dawa Khan Menapal.
MS TRUDEAU: Okay. I haven't seen that direct statement, but what I can say is that attacks such as this clearly undermine U.S., Afghan, and Pakistani efforts to promote peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan. We have consistently expressed our concerns at the highest level of the Government of Pakistan about their continued tolerance for Afghan Taliban groups such as the Haqqani Network operating from Pakistani soil. And we did again – after this week's attack, we have pressed the Government of Pakistan to follow up on its expressed commitment not to discriminate between terror groups regardless of their agenda or their affiliation by undertaking concrete action against the Haqqanis.
QUESTION: But your tolerance with Pakistan's tolerance of this network is not a new thing. You have been tolerating these – Pakistan's tolerance with Haqqani Network for quite some time.
MS TRUDEAU: Well, I direct you back to what Pakistan authorities have said themselves. They've reiterated their commitment that they will not discriminate against those groups. And we continue to call on them to live up to that commitment.
QUESTION: But do you see the words match with their actions?
MS TRUDEAU: I think words matter and we continue to encourage them to have their actions match those words.
QUESTION: Thank you.
QUESTION: On peace process?
MS TRUDEAU: Yep.
QUESTION: French foreign minister has said today that an international conference in Paris on May 30 is unable to relaunch talks between Palestinians and the Israelis. Did you get more information from the French about this conference? Are you coordinating with them now, and do you support such a conference?
MS TRUDEAU: So we actually just received specifics regarding substance and timing of this conference. We continue to be in touch directly with the French and other stakeholders to discuss the substance on there. We obviously remain concerned about the situation and continued trends on the ground, and it's why we continue to look at both sides to demonstrate with actions and politics a genuine commitment to the two-state solution.
QUESTION: And --
MS TRUDEAU: In terms of details, content, who's attending, I just don't have that level of granularity.
QUESTION: But based on this information, the U.S. will attend this conference?
MS TRUDEAU: Again, with scheduling and who's going to attend – attendance at all, I don't have that granularity. We've just received that information, so we'll continue to look and maybe I'll have an update for you later on.
QUESTION: But you're --
QUESTION: Is it a good idea to have an international conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or do you still favor direct negotiations as --
MS TRUDEAU: Our position on direct negotiations hasn't changed. But on this, as we've just received the information, literally, we're taking a look at it and we'll be in touch with the French, and hopefully have an update for you guys as well.
QUESTION: Does this conference contradict the bilateral talks between --
MS TRUDEAU: I wouldn't say contradict. But without getting too far ahead of taking a look at that information, I don't want to make a decision on that from the podium.
I'm going to go to --
QUESTION: Let me just – can I just follow up on this issue here very, very quickly.
MS TRUDEAU: Of course. Of course, Said.
QUESTION: I'm just – because the French also said it should have guarantees, it should just not be just be another meeting, because they have had so many meetings on the Middle East. Do you agree with that concept or that premise?
MS TRUDEAU: I'd agree – I'd say that we agree with the concept that we need to see progress. In going back to Lalit's question, again, this is one of those things where words matter and actions need to match words. As you know, we continue to call for the reduction of tensions, the reduction of rhetoric. I can't speak specifically to this because, again, we're just seeing the context on this. We're taking a look at the details. I don't have anything to share on that.
QUESTION: Could I get you to comment on a report that Israel has confiscated 115 dunams of land, which is about 40 acres and so on, for settlement building today?
MS TRUDEAU: And I actually did the math on that to see exactly what a dunam was. So we are aware of the reports. This appears to be the latest step in what appears to be an ongoing process of land seizures, settlement expansions, and legalizations of outposts that is fundamentally undermining the prospects for a two-state solution. As we have repeatedly made clear, we continue to look to both sides to demonstrate with actions and policies that commitment to a two-state solution.
I'm going to go to the gentleman in the back because – one second, Michel – because he was here yesterday and we didn't get a chance to call on him.
QUESTION: Okay. Thank you, Elizabeth.
QUESTION: (Off-mike.)
MS TRUDEAU: Yep.
QUESTION: Thank you, Elizabeth. Last Friday heavily armed gunmen from South Sudan crossed the Ethiopian border into Gambela region and killed 208 innocent Ethiopians, including women and children. And they also kidnap more than 100 children. As you probably heard, Ethiopia declared two days of national mourning for the 208 people killed. Ethiopia also announced that on Wednesday that its military force entered South Sudan and surrounded the attackers who abducted the children. My question, Elizabeth: What is the United States position regarding this attack on Ethiopian soil?
MS TRUDEAU: Okay. So first I'm going to say there's a lot there. So first, our condolences and our thoughts are with the victims and those impacted by this. We are concerned by the reports of the attacks in Gambela region of Ethiopia.
At this point we don't have information on the motive of attack. We've been informed that the Ethiopian authorities are responding to the immediate needs of those affected communities. They're carrying out the investigation. I've also seen reports that the Ethiopian forces are pulling out the children in that; for that I'm going to refer you to the Government of Ethiopia and South Sudan, because I just don't have clarity on what's going on on the ground.
Okay. Yep. And you guys – you're going to hate this. I can take two more, because I want to get you out before S goes on.
QUESTION: Sure. The foreign minister of North Korea spoke at the UN yesterday, and essentially he blamed the U.S. for failure in progress on talks and said that the only way to meet the threat from the U.S. was for them to have nuclear weapons. Do you have a response to that?
MS TRUDEAU: We disagree.
QUESTION: And --
MS TRUDEAU: Yeah.
QUESTION: -- he also had a chance to speak with Foreign Minister Zarif. Is there any concern, given the history between North Korea and Iran, that they might be talking about any illicit --
MS TRUDEAU: Yeah, I can't speak to a meeting of two foreign leaders like that.
Sir.
QUESTION: Thank you. Elizabeth, the Armenian American lobby groups learned from a representative of Administration that President Obama won't call the events of 1915 as genocide during his statement that will come out soon. The question is --
MS TRUDEAU: It actually came out.
QUESTION: It already came out today?
MS TRUDEAU: Yes, sir, it did.
QUESTION: Okay. And then, obviously, there – we learned – as we learned before, there is no genocide term in the statement. Can you please tell why this Administration avoids using the genocide term when about already 30 countries – approximately 30 countries, starting from allies like – democratic allies like Germany and France to not most democratic, maybe, country like Venezuela, has already called the events of 1915 as genocide? And President Ronald Reagan in 1981 as President also called the events of 1915 as genocide. Why can't this Administration do the same? Thank you.
MS TRUDEAU: Okay. In terms of the President's statement, you know I'm going to refer you to the White House. What I would say, though, is read this statement. It's a very powerful statement; came out just about an hour ago. He marked – he remarked on – he actually termed it the first mass atrocity of the 20th century. He noted the 1.5 million Armenian people who were deported, massacred, marched to their deaths in the final days of the Ottoman Empire. The President also remarked on the remarkable resilience of the Armenian people. So I would refer you to the White House to speak specifically on this, but I would say read the statement, because it's very powerful and he speaks.
Pam.
QUESTION: I'm sorry, can I follow up really quick --
MS TRUDEAU: I just – actually, let me go one more, and then I'm happy to talk.
QUESTION: Okay, come back to me, please. Thank you.
MS TRUDEAU: Hi, Pam.
QUESTION: Two quick ones, if I can.
MS TRUDEAU: Sure.
QUESTION: The first one: What's the State perspective on the widening political crisis in Macedonia, which, of course, has resulted in the massive pro and anti-government demonstrations this week?
And then secondly, do you have an update concerning U.S. relief for the earthquake victims in Ecuador?
MS TRUDEAU: Okay. So on Macedonia, we and the EU have made our concerns known about the importance of credible elections in Macedonia. Time is short. Much remains to be done. We strongly urge President Ivanov to rescind his decision and let the special prosecutor's office and the courts do their job. I would refer you to some of the statements that we've made on that.
Quickly on Ecuador – and thank you for the question, because I think sometimes things move very quickly on, and the people of Ecuador are very much in our thoughts. The United States is responding to the humanitarian needs in Ecuador in several different ways. USAID has deployed a team of disaster experts to assist the Government of Ecuador by assessing damage, identifying priority humanitarian needs, providing information and analysis of the situation on the ground.
They have also deployed a small team of structural engineers with urban search-and-rescue partners from the Los Angeles County Fire Department; Fairfax, Virginia Fire and Rescue. They're surveying buildings and critical infrastructure in the most affected areas.
They have also deployed a small support team to work with UN's Disaster Assistance and Coordination Team to help coordinate the flood of international rescue activities. They provided an initial $100,000 to support the distribution of emergency relief supplies to communities impacted and they're contributing $500,000 through the UN World Food Program to provide food vouchers in especially hit areas. Additional U.S. Government assistance may be forthcoming based on assessments and also the Government of Ecuador's request.
One more. You're it, my friend.
QUESTION: Thank you. What do you tell critics who say that the United States is rewarding Iran's behavior for producing excess plutonium or heavy water that could be used to produce plutonium?
MS TRUDEAU: So I think it's important to realize that actually Iran was below the 130 metric ton threshold before this was purchased.
QUESTION: And why can't you say whether this is Iran's sanction money or new U.S. dollars or U.S. taxpayer dollars being used to purchase this heavy water?
MS TRUDEAU: I'm sorry, I don't think I understand your question.
QUESTION: What kind of dollars are being used to purchase this heavy water from Iran?
MS TRUDEAU: Okay, so this was actually facilitated through the Department of Energy, so I'm going to refer you there.
QUESTION: And --
MS TRUDEAU: Thanks, guys.
QUESTION: Okay.
(The briefing was concluded at 2:28 p.m.)
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