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10/17/2022 06:35 PM EDT
Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson
Washington, D.C.
MR PATEL: Good morning or good afternoon, everybody.
QUESTION: Morning?
MR PATEL: Morning. Time is —
QUESTION: Are you on west coast time?
MR PATEL: Time is a construct. I don’t have anything for you at the top today, so Matt, if you want to kick us off?
QUESTION: Actually, I – I don’t have anything, actually, to start either.
MR PATEL: Oh, wow. Humeyra.
[]QUESTION: Hello. So can we get you to talk a little bit about the U.S. assessment on how influential Iran has become over the past few months in Russia’s war in Ukraine? There has been like quite a lot of reporting over the weekend as well. I’m sure you’ve seen the drone attacks. How big of a role it is playing? What is U.S. assessment? And are you guys thinking about taking action in terms of sanctions?
MR PATEL: So to take a little bit of a step back, we have been warning since July that Iran was planning to sell UAVs to Russia for use against Ukraine. We also exposed publicly that Russia has received drones from Iran; that this was part of Russia’s plan to import hundreds of Iranian UAVs of various types; and that Russian operators continue to receive training in Iran on how to use these systems. There’s extensive proof of their use by Russia against both military and civilian targets there. And you’ve all seen the reports, as you mentioned, this morning of what appears to be Iranian drones striking downtown Kyiv.
Russia deepening an alliance with Iran is something the whole world should, especially those in the region and across the world, frankly, should be seen as a profound threat and something that any country should pay very close attention to. This is something that we’re continuing to monitor closely on our end, and we’re in close touch with our allies and partners, including those in the United Nations, to address Iran’s dangerous proliferation of weapons to Russia. And anyone doing business with Iran that could have any link to UAVs or ballistic missile developments or the flow of arms from Iran to Russia should be very careful and do their due diligence. The U.S. will not hesitate to use sanctions or take actions against perpetrators. I don’t have specific actions to read out or preview, but this is something that we’re continuing to pay very close attention to.
QUESTION: Follow-up on that.
MR PATEL: Sure.
[]QUESTION: Thank you so much, Vedant. Happy Monday. Two parts of this question. One is the Biden administration doing everything you can to help Iran – I’m sorry – to help Ukraine stand up against Iranian drones? You mentioned also missiles. That is about – that – I’ve seen some reports about Zolfaghar missiles, which come along with 700 kilometer range, which does pose question that why is it that the U.S. is so reluctant about attack missiles that Ukraine has been asking about for a long time. Does it pause you in – a bit when you make your next decisions about your help – your military aid to Ukraine? And is it going to factor into your decisions?
MR PATEL: Thanks, Alex. So over the course of this entire conflict, we have made our assessments and offered our Ukrainian partners the type of security assistance that we think is going to best position them on the battlefield. And you have seen that over the course of the trajectory of this conflict, both in the beginning months in February but also now, where at every turn the nature of the conflict and the nature of the battlefield has shifted a little bit.
We are going to, as I said, continue to work with our allies and partners to address not just Iran’s actions here but continue to hold Russia accountable. And we’re going to continue to surge unprecedented security assistance to Ukraine, including air defense and as well as working with our allies to transfer of air defense systems and other important security assets for Ukraine to use. I don’t have specific systems to read out or any immediate package to preview, but this is something that we’re paying very close attention to and will take action as necessary.
QUESTION: Yeah, but the transfer of Zolfaghar – will that be a game changer for you?
MR PATEL: Again, I’m going to let our Ukrainian partners speak to the battlefield specifically, but again, we will do everything we can to continue to surge our unprecedented security assistance to our Ukrainian partners.
QUESTION: Thanks, and last —
QUESTION: One tiny thing when you were saying – does the U.S. have independent assessments and confirmation that the drones in today’s attack on Kyiv were indeed Iranian drones?
MR PATEL: I can’t speak to these specific reports, but again, as I said at the beginning of your question, we’ve been warning about this since dating back to July, not just about their use, but of Iran’s plan to sell UAVs to Russia in the first place.
QUESTION: Just one quick follow-up on that.
QUESTION: (Off-mic.)
MR PATEL: Sure.
QUESTION: I’m wondering if, in addition to the hundreds of drones that you just referenced – if the U.S. believes that Iran is preparing to send additional weaponry, specifically short-range ballistic missiles, from Iran to Russia?
MR PATEL: Again, I’ve seen those reports, but I don’t have anything to offer on that. What I would say, though, is that this continued action of Iran and Russia closening their relationship is a reminder of, candidly, how the Russian military is suffering from major supply shortages in Ukraine in large part because of the sanctions and export controls that are being enforced by the United States and its allies. As I think the Treasury Department noted last week, Russia has lost over 6,000 pieces of equipment since the start of this war, and there is enormous pressure on its defense industry to replace those losses. Russia is being – it’s being forced, frankly, to resort on unreliable countries like Iran for supplies and equipment, and our information has noted that some of these UAVs that had been noted in these transfers have been experiencing some numerous failures. So again, this is going to be something that we play very close attention to and we’ll take appropriate action as needed.
QUESTION: Just one —
QUESTION: My last —
QUESTION: One quick follow-up on that.
MR PATEL: Yeah.
[]QUESTION: As we talk about other countries selling or giving weaponry to Russia, do you guys have any updates as to where the North Korea-Russia relationship stands on that point, on that aspect? I think it was last month —
MR PATEL: Yeah.
QUESTION: — U.S. officials said that —
MR PATEL: I believe Janne asked about this about a week and a half ago, and I don’t think we have anything additional to offer on that.
QUESTION: No update as to —
MR PATEL: Yeah.
QUESTION: Last one on the drones?
MR PATEL: Hold on. We’ll —
QUESTION: Following on drones.
MR PATEL: Shaun. I’m going to go with Shaun.
QUESTION: Sure. Can I just ask something else on Iran?
MR PATEL: Ok.
QUESTION: On Evin prison?
MR PATEL: Sure.
[]QUESTION: The situation there – first, do you have information about the Americans who are there, including Siamak Namazi? And do you have any – does the United States have any information about what actually happened in Iran? It says again a fire, but obviously there’s some suggestions, I mean —
MR PATEL: So I don’t have any updates to offer on what transpired, but what I can say is that the detained U.S. citizens in Iran are accounted for and they are safe. We are closely monitoring their situation. For privacy and security and their safety, I’m not going to discuss the situation further. But we’re going to continue to work with other countries, many of whom also have detained citizens at Evin, to remind Iran of its responsibility for the safety of our detained citizens. And we reiterate our call for the immediate release of all wrongfully detained U.S. citizens.
Said.
QUESTION: When you say they’re safe, they’re still in Iranian custody, right?
MR PATEL: Correct. They are —
QUESTION: Well, that’s —
MR PATEL: — safe from the fire —
QUESTION: Okay.
MR PATEL: — and the events taking place at Evin prison. But yes, they are still wrongfully detained and they are still in Iranian custody.
Said.
QUESTION: Changing topics.
MR PATEL: Sure.
[]QUESTION: Okay. It’s been reported that this administration is quite furious with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for saying what he said to President Putin about not trusting the United States or not trusting the Biden administration. I wonder if you have seen the reports, first. And second, what is your comment on that?
[]MR PATEL: I have seen those reports, and I think you’ve seen some of my colleagues from the White House speak to this as well. But Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine is a clear violation of international law and it serves as a threat to global peace and security. And President Putin is a far cry from the type of international partner or international leader needed to constructively address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And so I would reiterate that we are deeply disappointed to hear President Abbas’s remarks to President Putin.
Russia does not stand for justice and international law, as was evidenced by the UN General Assembly vote last week. And President Biden and Secretary Blinken, in contrast, have demonstrated a U.S. commitment for decades to seeking creative solutions and working towards a lasting peace in the region that’s required to advance stability and prosperity throughout the region.
QUESTION: Now, will this disappointment be translated into action, like holding back maybe on the reopening of the consulate in Jerusalem or the reopening of the PLO office here in Washington in terms of tangible punishment of the Palestinians?
MR PATEL: I don’t have any —
QUESTION: You don’t have —
MR PATEL: I don’t have any actions to preview or link it to. But I would just again reiterate our disappointment to hear those remarks in reference to —
QUESTION: Just a couple – one more.
MR PATEL: Sure.
QUESTION: There has been an increase in settler aggression against the Palestinians, and sometimes aided by Israeli soldiers, especially now that they have the olive harvest, and it’s the only crop that Palestinians depend on annually. And obviously, the settlers are attacking farmers, uprooting trees, burning them and so on, sometimes while the Israeli soldiers look on and sometimes even joining them and so on. I wonder if you have any – first, if you have seen reports about increased settler violence, and second, if you have a comment on that.
MR PATEL: Well, Said, I spoke a little bit about this last week. The recent period has seen a sharp and alarming increase in Palestinian and Israeli deaths, including impacting a number of children. Since mid-September, at least 23 Palestinians and four Israelis have been killed, and it is vital that these parties themselves take urgent action to prevent greater loss of life. And we continue to emphasize the point that Israelis and Palestinians deserve to have equal measures of security, stability, of justice and dignity and democracy.
Janne, go ahead.
[]QUESTION: Thank you. I have two questions, one on North Korea, one China. North Korea says series of provocations last week and North Korea violated the September 19 military agreement that South Korea and North Korea has agreed to five years ago. South Korea is considering whether to abolish the 9/19 military agreement first or keep it as it is. How does the United States view North Korea’s violation of military agreement? Thank you.
MR PATEL: Well, Janne, you saw me speak to this quite clearly last week, that the recent ballistic missile launches, the other kinds of aggravation and provocation that we’re seeing are condemnable, and the specific ballistic missile launches are in clear violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions. And beyond the violation of resolutions, these kinds of activities, they pose a very serious threat to the region and to the world more broadly.
And so what the United States is going to continue to do is we’re going to continue to stay engaged with our allies, the Republic of Korea and Japan. We’re going to continue to have diplomatic engagements with them and take appropriate actions as necessary.
QUESTION: One more, China.
MR PATEL: Sure.
[]QUESTION: Chinese President Xi Jinping said he would unify Taiwan by force within a few years, and also Xi Jinping sent a letter to Kim Jong-un for strategic unity between China and North Korea. Do you think this could cause Kim Jong-un to make a misjudgment?
MR PATEL: It’s not for me to speak what’s in Kim Jong-un’s head or not. But what I can say to the first part of your question is we have been quite clear both publicly and privately with the PRC that our policy towards Taiwan has remained consistent for decades and across administrations. And we remain committed to our “one China” policy, which is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the three Joint Communiques, and the Six Assurances, and we’re going to continue to take steps to promote cross-strait peace.
And look, as it relates to the DPRK, I think you saw last week, when there was a UN Security Council hearing on this, you saw the PRC and Russia and other countries parrot this false claim that U.S. provocations were the origination of these ballistic missile launches or anything like that. That’s baloney and absolutely not the case.
QUESTION: Follow-up —