The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Israel building settlements may not help peace: US
THE TRUMP administration on Friday imposed sanctions on 13 people and a dozen companies in response to Iran’s recent ballistic missile test, increasing pressure on Tehran without directly undercutting a landmark nuclear deal with the country.
Those targeted by the Treasury Department include various agents, companies and associates involved in procuring ballistic missile technology for Iran. The action blacklists the Iranian, Lebanese, Emirati and Chinese individuals and firms from doing any business in the US or with American citizens.
“Iran’s continued support for terrorism and development of its ballistic missile programme poses a threat to the region, to our partners worldwide and to the United States,’’ John Smith, the Treasury Department’s acting sanctions chief, said. “We will continue to actively apply all available tools, including financial sanctions, to address this behaviour,” Smith said.
The sanctions are the first against Iran in Donald Trump’s new presidency, reflecting his desire to take a tougher stance toward Tehran. Throughout his campaign, Trump accused the Obama administration of being weak on Iran.
Iran has a formidable arsenal of thousands of short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles capable of reaching Israel and other US allies in the Middle East, as well as American bases.
In a tweet Friday morning, Trump said: “Iran is playing with fire — they don’t appreciate how ‘kind’ President Obama was to them. Not me.”
Despite Trump’s tough talk, the new sanctions represent a continuation of the Obama administration’s limited punishment for Iran’s ballistic missile activity and avoid a direct showdown with Tehran over the nuclear deal itself. The targets were drawn up before President Barack Obama left office, according to officials familiar with the planning, though they said a more muscular statement of US intent would be delivered by the White House later Friday.
None of the new penalties reverse the Obama administration’s suspension of sanctions as part of the 2015 nuclear accord. Obama himself promised after the deal to continue going after Iran with non-nuclear penalties in response to missile launches, terror support or human rights abuses, and did so in January and March of last year.
Still, it’s unclear how effective Trump’s move will prove in halting Iran’s missile development. The new sanctions don’t affect Iran Air, a big Iranian bank or a major government entity, and appear to be a warning shot by the new US President.
‘Will never initiate war’
Iran said it would be undeterred. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted Friday that his country was “unmoved by threats as we derive security from our people. We’ll never initiate war, but we can only rely on our own means of defence.”
“Our missile drills are a show of our might,’’ added Tehran Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami.
“We are living in a world of wolves — wolves such as the arrogant government of America. In this world of wolves, should we remain unarmed and they do whatever damn things they want? No way! This will never happen!” he said.
Tehran has argued at times that any new US sanctions would violate the seven-nation nuclear deal. The agreement compelled Iran to halt its enrichment of uranium, a material that can be used in atomic bombs, in exchange for broad relief from US and international sanctions that were crippling the Iranian economy.
Trump has ridiculed the arrangement as a terrible deal, but America’s closest allies in Europe as well as Russia and China are committed to it.
Iran also says it has the right to conduct ballistic missile tests now that its nuclear programme has been sharply curtailed. AP THE TRUMP administration said on Thursday that Israel’s building of new settlements or expansion of existing ones in occupied territories may not be helpful in achieving peace with Palestinians, adopting a more measured tone than its previous pro-israel announcements.
In a statement issued two weeks before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to visit Donald Trump, the White House said the administration “has not taken an official position on settlement activity.”
Trump has signalled he could be more accommodating toward settlement projects than his predecessor, Barack Obama. The latest statement reflects slightly more nuanced language on how the new administration views settlement activity.
“While we don’t believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful,” the White House said in a statement.
In the first Israeli reaction to the statement, Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, said it was too early to tell how it would affect future building. “It’s still too early to tell ... I would not categorise this as a U-turn by the US administration but the issue is clearly on their agenda ... the issue will be discussed when the prime minister meets the president in Washington,” Danon said.