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01/13/2023 05:52 PM EST
Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson
Washington, DC
2:04 p.m. EST
MR PATEL: Good afternoon, everybody. Happy Friday the 13th to those that celebrate that.
QUESTION: Well, what do you have in store for us?
MR PATEL: So it’s a Friday the 13th in January, so I really don’t know what that actually is evocative of.
I have one brief thing at the top. []So I want to address the possibly imminent execution of Iranian-British dual national Ali-Reza Akbari. The United States echoes the British Government’s strong call for Iran not to proceed with this execution and to release Mr. Akbari immediately. The charges against Ali-Reza Akbari and his sentencing to execution were politically motivated. His execution would be unconscionable.
We are greatly disturbed by the reports that Mr. Akbari was drugged, tortured while in custody, interrogated for thousands of hours, and forced to make false concessions[]#post-411145-endnote-1.
More broadly, Iran’s practices of arbitrary and unjust detentions, forced confessions, and politically-motivated executions are completely unacceptable and must end.
With that, Matt, if you want to kick us off.
QUESTION: Sure, well, let’s just start with that. I mean, other than this public call, are you able to do anything about this?
MR PATEL: I don’t have any specific actions to preview, Matt, but as we’ve said previously, we have a number of tools at our disposal to hold the Iranian regime accountable. We have done so and taken action at various intervals over the past number of months, whether it be sanctions, whether it be designations of entities and individuals, doing so in robust in close coordination with our allies and partners.
QUESTION: But you would concede that those haven’t worked?
MR PATEL: Well, Matt, I – what I would say is that the actions that we have taken have had an effect. They’ve had an effect in the sense that —
QUESTION: Well, they haven’t stopped the repression or these executions.
MR PATEL: I’m not trying to make the case that they have done that, but they have had an impact in further isolating the Iranian regime and making them more of a pariah on the national stage.
QUESTION: Okay. And then I just have one other which is completely unrelated.
MR PATEL: Sure.
QUESTION: And that is – and I realize you guys have been looking for this and you may not have an answer – but do you have any more details on this agreement that the Secretary is going to sign this afternoon between NASA and Japan?
MR PATEL: Sure, Matt, let me share what I do have.
QUESTION: You do?
MR PATEL: It is largely similar to what Ned said today – yesterday – in that today Secretary —
QUESTION: Well, okay. That was almost nothing, so —
MR PATEL: If you’ll allow me, []Secretary Blinken and the Japanese foreign minister will sign an agreement at NASA this afternoon that will build on our decades of cooperation and exploration and the use of outer space. This agreement underscores the commitment of the U.S. and Japan to safe and responsible outer space activities in Earth’s orbit, on the moon, and beyond. The U.S. and Japan are two of the original signatories of the Artemis Accords demonstrating our outstanding commitment to sustainable and transparent outer space exploration.
Now, to your specific question yesterday on the signing of this and its potential impact on forthcoming Artemis missions and the makeup of a crew and so on and so forth, I will let our NASA colleagues speak to that. I just don’t have any information on that piece of it.
QUESTION: Okay. Okay, thank you.
MR PATEL: Great. Alex. Go ahead.
QUESTION: Thank you, Vedant. Happy Friday. Just before I dive into my questions, to follow up with what Matt asked and based on your response, you wouldn’t say that you have exhausted your options, right? I mean there are still tools in your toolkit, just you haven’t used them yet.
MR PATEL: []There are always tools in our toolkit, and I certainly wasn’t trying to make the case that we have exhausted our options. We continue to have tools at our disposal to hold the Iranian regime accountable, and you’ve seen this administration take action from this department, from the Treasury Department, from other entities within the Executive Branch. We have done what we can to hold the Iranian regime accountable, and we’ll continue to do so through this government but also in close coordination with our allies and partners as well.
QUESTION: Is sanctioning the supreme leader for gross human rights violations on the table?
MR PATEL: I’m not going to – I’m not going to talk about what’s on or off the table. What I am going to say is that we have taken action, we continue to have tools at our disposal, and we’ll continue to do what we can and do it in close coordination with our allies and partners to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its egregious human rights violations, for its killing of its own people.
QUESTION: Thanks so much. Moving to Russia, the Secretary yesterday mentioned —
MR PATEL: Actually, can I – can we stay on the subject, and then I’ll come back to you.
[] Go ahead, Guita.
QUESTION: Thank you, Vedant. The European Parliament – members of the European Parliament are more and more calling for the EU to designate the IRGC was a terrorist group. Britain, the UK, is also – agrees with this. In addition, a member of the UK Parliament today, for example, called even for more actions, like recalling ambassadors from – or at least the UK ambassador for Iran – to Iran, expelling Iranian diplomats, completely stopping the JCPOA talks, snapback, and similar actions in this line. Does the Biden administration agree with the above actions in downgrading diplomatic relations or is it of the camp that thinks at least one channel of communication needs to stay open?
MR PATEL: Well, let me say a couple of things, Guita. First and foremost, we have designated the IRGC, and that is because we continue to believe that the Iranian regime and largely through the IRGC it has taken part in malign and destabilizing activities, not just in the immediate region, but the world more broadly – activities that are harmful to not just the United States regional and national security but those of our allies and partners. I will leave it to other entities to speak to their own determinations and the own designations that they make within their own foreign policy.
Similarly, we’ll leave it to other countries to make their own determinations on their diplomatic relations with Iran and anything like that. But what I would say specifically to your question about the JCPOA, Guita, is that for some time – and this is not something new that I’ve said – the JCPOA is not on the agenda right now.
QUESTION: Yeah —
MR PATEL: Janne, go ahead.
QUESTION: Thank you. I have a couple questions. China has suspended visas to South Korea and Japan. On the other hand, there are reports that China and the United States will increase flights between the two countries. How do you view about China’s differences – different situations?
MR PATEL: Are you speaking in the context of COVID-19 or in public health?
QUESTION: Yes, COVID-19.
MR PATEL: Understood. []So I will – I am not going to speak to the public health measures that another country takes. What I will say is that the United States has always made its decisions – and our colleagues at the CDC can speak to this more greatly – on – they have based their decisions in science. And as you saw in December, in late December, we issued a mandatory testing requirement for flights originating from the PRC.
I don’t have anything else to preview in terms of the increase of flights or anything like that, but what I will say, Janne, again is that our decision making has been rooted in the science, rooted in transmission, in the prevalence of various variants, and I will let the CDC speak to those.
QUESTION: So do you think the South Korean Government response to COVID-19 based on scientific grounds was justified?
MR PATEL: []Again, I will let other countries speak to their own public health measures. My understanding of the South Korean effort was that it was a similar testing requirement much like the one that the United States imposed, but again, I will let other countries speak to their own public health measures.
QUESTION: Lastly – lastly, what is the State Department position on the South Korean wants their own nuclear armament?
MR PATEL: Well, I think you saw President Yoon speak to this earlier this week, Janne. To take a little bit of a step back, the United States and the Republic of Korea continue to pursue what we view as a shared objective, which is a complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. And the Yoon administration has been very clear that it is not pursuing a nuclear weapons program and that it is working closely with the United States through existing extended deterrence mechanisms, and in fact, it is the DPRK that is pursuing an unlawful nuclear arsenal, raising nuclear tensions in the region, and taking part in destabilizing actions. So the U.S. is going to continue to work with the ROK and we’ll continue to work together to strengthen these extended deterrence programs in the face of the DPRK’s destabilizing actions.
QUESTION: So yesterday Pentagon and White House saying they want to be denuclearization – complete denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula. So is it same page —
MR PATEL: That continues to be our goal, and the Yoon administration has been very clear that it is not pursuing a nuclear weapons program.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR PATEL: Going back to you, Alex. Thank you.
QUESTION: Thank you so much. The Secretary yesterday met with Ambassador Tracy prior to her departure to Russia. Just wondering how does the Secretary envision her mandate, her role during the next couple of months and weeks. This is not the business as usual – or I should say diplomacy as usual – with Russia, right?
MR PATEL: []Of course. Of course, and I spoke to this a little bit when Ambassador Tracy was confirmed by the Senate. Look, Alex, Russia is a country that we have bilateral relationships with, and I know that Ambassador Tracy for – once she gets to Moscow she looks forward to doing what she can to be an advocate for the issues that are important to the United States, and there are issues within the bilateral relationship that require the lines of communication to remain open. And we would like those lines of communications to remain open. That is equally true in quote/unquote “normal” times, but also true – and perhaps more important – in times of conflict like right now.
QUESTION: Ukraine has —
QUESTION: To confirm she’s getting there today, tomorrow —
MR PATEL: I don’t have a specific date. I don’t have a specific date, but I have – am sure she intends to get there very soon. I can check if we’ve got a specific, but I’m sure our embassy will be in touch on that also.
QUESTION: Staying on diplomacy, Ukraine has claimed that Russians are trying to reach out to European countries for some unfavorable deal on behalf of Ukraine. What is the confidence level that Russia will not succeed in undermining European, trans-Eurasian unity?
MR PATEL: Sorry, I don’t understand your question.
QUESTION: Russians are sending out their diplomats to European countries and trying to fish some sort of, like, unfavorable deal. That’s based on Ukrainian intelligence assessment. What is your confidence level that they will not succeed in undermining your unity?
MR PATEL: []Well, we have been in lockstep with our allies and partners since the genesis of this in February of last year. Over the course and over the varying turns of this conflict, you have seen through the various multilateral fora and otherwise the United States and its allies and partners be in unison about Russia’s unjust, its barbaric, its unlawful infringement on Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity. You have also seen our allies and partners, including those in Europe, play an – a vital role in supporting our Ukrainian partners through security assistance, through humanitarian assistance, through other measures, and I have no doubt that that will continue.
QUESTION: Thank you. My last one on this: May I get your assessment on what’s going on in eastern Ukraine during the past 24 hours and how much this was a subject to today’s phone call between the Secretary and his counterpart?
MR PATEL: I don’t have – and I assume you’re speaking about Soledar? Yes. I don’t have any additional – anything additional to offer about Secretary Blinken’s call with Foreign Minister Kuleba. But what I would say is that we’ve seen those same reports, just as we’ve seen the same reports from Russia and just as we’ve seen Ukrainian reports that refute – that say that the fighting continues.
Broadly speaking, though, Alex, I don’t want to get into specific battlefield assessments. But to widen the aperture, it is clear that Russia’s months-long campaign appears to have come at extreme and tremendous loss of personnel. Thousands of Russian unprepared and poorly equipped conscripts have been killed, and the Kremlin itself has acknowledged that its decision to attack Soledar has come at a high price. So we are going to continue to consult closely with our Ukrainian partners and assess the situation.
Said, go ahead.
QUESTION: Thank you. Switching topics?
MR PATEL: Sure.
QUESTION: Okay, the Palestinian issue. There was a report today in The Washington Times about the haunt – how Palestinian children are and haunted by the nightly raids by the Israeli occupation army. I wonder if you saw this.
MR PATEL: I’ve seen —
QUESTION: And if you have any comment on that.
MR PATEL: []I saw the article, Said. And what I would – what I would say to that is I would point you back to what President Biden said last summer on his visit to Israel, and that he made quite clear that we continue to support a two-state solution. And the President noted that the two states living side by side remains the best way to ensure the future of equal measures of freedom, prosperity, and democracy for Israelis and Palestinians alike.
QUESTION: Well, this is great, but in the interim the Palestinian children continue to be targeted and haunted. I mean, since the beginning of the year, 10 Palestinians have been killed – 10 in the last 13 days, including one today – 13 – and dozens more injured. What can you do besides, I mean, talk about the two-state solution and so on? What can you do to provide protection for the Palestinians and Palestinian children? They are mainly — largely innocent.
MR PATEL: Said, we have been very vocal, not just from this briefing room but in the various other engagements that the Secretary and other senior officials have done from this department, about our continued support for a two-state solution and our opposition to policies that endanger its viability. This includes – and we have – continue to have a deep support for the equal administration of justice for all of those who live in Israel.
QUESTION: Well, your envoy to the Palestinians, Mr. Hady Amr, was just there like a day or two ago. What does he tell the Palestinians and the Israelis in this regard? What is the message? I mean, he was meeting with all – I don’t know if he met with any Israelis. But I mean, it – obviously that the Israelis greeted him with accelerated aggression against innocent Palestinians.
MR PATEL: Said, whenever we engage with both the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority, we continue to be very clear that we have a continued support for a two-state solution and opposition to policies that are going to endanger its viability. You have seen the Secretary speak to this; you have seen the President speak to this; it’s something Ned and I have been – have made quite clear as well.
QUESTION: If you would just bear with me.
MR PATEL: Sure.
QUESTION: The Palestinians are warning that Israel’s extremist policies and your ambiguity towards these extremist policies just put the whole thing in peril. Are you ambiguous towards this government and its conduct thus far – the Israeli Government?
MR PATEL: We – I don’t believe we’ve been ambiguous at all, Said. As we’ve said repeatedly from the beginning, we look forward to working with Israel to advance the interests and values that have long been at the heart of our bilateral relationship. I will also point you back to what Secretary Blinken said in December, that our engagement and our judgment with the new Israeli Government will be rooted in the policies they pursue, not based on personalities. And again we have been clear, and I have just said now again that we’ve been very clear, about our continued support for a two-state solution and opposition to policies that endanger its viability.
QUESTION: And lastly, I know maybe this is not your area or doesn’t really fall under the auspices of the State Department, but Harvard nullified a fellowship for the former head of Human Rights Watch, Mr. Ken Roth, because he criticized Israel. You certainly would have a position if Harvard denied the fellowship for someone because he criticized China, the human rights violations in China and elsewhere. Do you have any comment on this?
MR PATEL: Said, I’m just not going to – I’m not aware of this. I’m just hearing of this now. And obviously Harvard is a private institution, so I just don’t have anything to offer there.
Go ahead.
QUESTION: Yes. Do you have any comment on this report by The Wall Street Journal that the Biden administration is preparing to seek congressional approval, it says, for a 20 billion sale of new F-16 jet fighters to Türkiye along with a separate sale of next-generation F-35 warplanes to Greece? Any comment on this?
MR PATEL: []As a matter of policy, the department is not going to comment on proposed defense sales or transfers until they’ve been formally notified to Congress. But what I would say is that Türkiye and Greece both are vital, vital NATO Allies and we have a history of, of course, supporting their security apparatuses. But I’m just not going to get ahead of the process here.