IRAN
The President boldly announced from the White House that as long as he is president Iran “will not get nuclear weapons.” In response to Iran’s aggressive actions against the United States Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on Friday announced a new series of sanctions designed to curb the regime’s destructive behavior. He said there are three pieces to America’s anti-terrorism policy toward Iran.
First, the US will deny Iran the wealth and resources it needs to conduct global terrorism and warfare. The President, Pompeo added, is issuing an executive order authorizing the imposition of “additional sanctions against any individual owning, operating, trading with, or assisting sectors of the Iranian economy, including construction, manufacturing, textiles, and mining,” according to the Secretary.
Second, Pompeo announced 17 specific sanctions against Iran’s largest iron and steel manufacturers, which is expected to cut off billions of dollars of support to the regime and to encourage it to behave more like a normal nation. The final policy change announced was that the United States is taking action against eight senior Iranian officials who advanced the regime’s destabilizing activity and who were involved in this past week’s ballistic missile strike.
By combining diplomatic and economic efforts the Administration hopes to stop Iran’s terrorist activities and to get the regime in Tehran to agree to “never have nuclear weapons.” The Secretary ended his announcement by pointing out that Washington is concerned about American detained in Iran and it will do what it can to get each of them returned home to their families. After the missile attack Iranian sources said that Iran plans no further actions against the United States at this time. It appears that the regime leadership wants to avoid all-out war with the United States. Intelligence analysts in Washington believe that the recent attacks in Iraq were designed to do little damage. This view is reinforced by the fact that Iran warned Iraqi leaders about the attack three hours prior to it. It can be assumed that Iran knew the government would inform Washington.
VENEZUELA
In a statement released Friday, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo pointed out that Venezuela’s political crisis has led to the flight of more than 4.8 million people. He called for a “… swift negotiated transition to democracy…” and said it “is the most effective and sustainable route to peace and prosperity in Venezuela. Negotiations could open the path out of the crisis through a transitional government that will organize free and fair elections.”
Later this year Venezuelans will go to the polls to elect a new President and National Assembly members. Pompeo pointed that that the country needs to rebuild its infrastructure and institutions that were “eviscerated by a brutal regime.”
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In a statement released by the State Department Spokesperson, Morgan Ortagus, she said that the US is “alarmed that Pastor Wang Yi, leader of the Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, was tried in secret and sentenced to nine years in prison in connection to his peaceful advocacy for religious freedom.”
The United States is calling for his immediate and unconditional release. Pastor Wang Yi, the announcement noted, was originally arrested with “dozens of other congregants on December 9, 2018, during a massive crackdown on Chengdu’s largest unregistered church. He was found guilty during a closed-door trial December 26 on trumped-up charges of “inciting subversion of state power” and “illegal business activities,” with “no defense lawyer present.”
Ortagus said this is yet another example of “Beijing’s intensification of repression of Chinese Christians and members of other religious groups.” The Trump Administration called on Beijing to uphold its international commitments and promises made in its own constitution to promote religious freedom for all individuals, including members of ethnic and religious minorities and those who worship outside of official state-sanctioned institutions. In recent months President Xi has allowed some religious activity in the older, more traditional religions in China. Analysts in Washington surmise this is to tamp down social unrest in a country facing immense domestic challenges going into 2020.
DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government. Each Saturday, she presents key updates on U.S. foreign policy from the State Department.
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