Rouhani: US Policies Important, Not Who Becomes President

FILE PHOTO: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks during a cabinet meeting, in Tehran, Iran, April 1, 2020. Official Presidential Website/Handout via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks during a cabinet meeting, in Tehran, Iran, April 1, 2020. Official Presidential Website/Handout via REUTERS
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Rouhani: US Policies Important, Not Who Becomes President

FILE PHOTO: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks during a cabinet meeting, in Tehran, Iran, April 1, 2020. Official Presidential Website/Handout via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks during a cabinet meeting, in Tehran, Iran, April 1, 2020. Official Presidential Website/Handout via REUTERS

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday the result of the US election was not important for the country's clerical rulers, but that the next president in Washington should respect international treaties and laws.

"For Tehran, the next US administration's policies are important and not who wins the US election," Rouhani said in a televised cabinet meeting.

Democratic challenger Joe Biden has promised to rejoin Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six powers if Iran returns to compliance with it.

President Donald Trump abandoned the deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy. In retaliation, Iran has gradually reduced compliance with the deal's terms.

"We want to be respected, not subject to sanctions (by the United States). No matter who wins the US election ... For us, policies and principles are important," Rouhani said.

Trump has said he wants to strike a new deal with Tehran that would address Iran's missile program and support for regional proxies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.

Iran has ruled out any negotiations unless Washington first returns to the accord.



NATO Command in Germany to Assist Ukraine Is up and Running, Says Rutte

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte holds a press conference, ahead of a meeting of NATO Defense Ministers in Brussels, Belgium October 16, 2024. (Reuters)
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte holds a press conference, ahead of a meeting of NATO Defense Ministers in Brussels, Belgium October 16, 2024. (Reuters)
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NATO Command in Germany to Assist Ukraine Is up and Running, Says Rutte

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte holds a press conference, ahead of a meeting of NATO Defense Ministers in Brussels, Belgium October 16, 2024. (Reuters)
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte holds a press conference, ahead of a meeting of NATO Defense Ministers in Brussels, Belgium October 16, 2024. (Reuters)

A new NATO command in the German city of Wiesbaden has taken up its work to coordinate Western military aid for Ukraine, the alliance's Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Wednesday.

The command takes over coordination of the aid from the United States, in a move widely seen as aiming to safeguard the support mechanism against NATO sceptic US President-elect Donald Trump.

"The NATO command in Wiesbaden for security assistance and training for Ukraine is now up and running", Rutte told reporters at NATO's headquarters in Brussels.

Trump, who will take office in January, has said he wants to end the war in Ukraine swiftly without elaborating how he aims to do so. He has long criticized the scale of US financial and military aid to Ukraine.

The headquarters of NATO's new Ukraine mission, dubbed NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU), is located at Clay Barracks, a US base in the German town of Wiesbaden.

The US-led Ramstein group of around 50 nations, an ad hoc coalition named after a US air base in Germany where it first met, has coordinated Western military supplies to Kyiv since 2022.

It will continue to exist as a political forum as NSATU assumes the military implementation of decisions taken there.

Diplomats, however, acknowledge that the handover to NATO may have a limited effect given that the United States under Trump could still deal a major setback to Ukraine by slashing its support, as it is the alliance's dominant power and provides the majority of arms to Kyiv.

NSATU is set to have around 700 personnel, including troops stationed at NATO's military headquarters SHAPE in Belgium and at logistics hubs in Poland and Romania.

Russia has condemned increases in Western military aid to Ukraine as risking a wider war.