IRAN
Iran continues its abnormal state behavior. Earlier this week it seized a United Arab Emirates (UAE) tanker ship and is continuing with a series of escalating actions leading up to the US destroying an Iranian drone threatening the USS Boxer and its crew. On July 19, an Iranian drone refused to comply with instructions was shot down as it approached within 1,000 yards of the ship traveling in international waters in the Strait of Hormuz.
Referring to the seizure of the UAE vessel, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said Washington is “following very closely what’s taking place more broadly even than just this tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. The President’s made pretty clear that this is an international obligation to keep these waterways open, and we’re working diligently to build out a maritime security initiative – a broad range of countries participating in that. The Iranians’ effort to deny transit for commercial vessels, crude oil vessels, and other vessels is something that – frankly, it’s consistent with 40 years of their history and it’s something that the United States is prepared to do our part to make sure that those waterways remain open.”
The Secretary added that no one should underestimate the broad range of responses available to the US and that Iran, in particular, should not misunderstand American efforts. He said: “The best solution here is for the Iranians to decide that the diplomatic path forward is the best one for the people inside of Iran, and we try to talk to them because the Iranian regime has clearly done things that are inconsistent with what the Iranian people want.” The Trump Administration continues to seek a diplomatic path forward which will deny Iran both a path to a nuclear weapon and the ability to build out its missile program through proliferation.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM CONFERENCE
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BURMA
The US Government remains deeply concerned about the persecution of the Rohingya people and other human rights atrocities being carried out by the Burmese government and its security forces. According to a senior State Department official in Washington, the Burmese military has made “no progress on holding accountable those responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims.”
The official added that to date, “the US has taken a number of actions to promote accountability for these atrocities, including the sanctioning of five Burmese generals and two military units for serious human rights abuses in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan states.”
This week Secretary Pompeo announced publicly that the commander-in-chief of the Burmese military, Min Aung Hlaing; the deputy commander-in-chief, Soe Win; and commanders of the 33rd and 99th Light Infantry Divisions, Than Oo and Aung Aung, and their immediate family members have been designated under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 2019 for their involvement in gross violations of human rights, including extrajudicial killings, against Rohingya, particularly from August through September 2017.” Unfortunately, to date, sanctions have done little to change the behavior of the government.
Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Department during the Reagan Administration.
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