McKenzie: Iran, Terrorist Groups Remain Most Challenging Driver of Instability in Middle East

Gen. Kenneth McKenzie said Iran remains the biggest destabilizing challenge in the Middle East. (AP)
Gen. Kenneth McKenzie said Iran remains the biggest destabilizing challenge in the Middle East. (AP)
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McKenzie: Iran, Terrorist Groups Remain Most Challenging Driver of Instability in Middle East

Gen. Kenneth McKenzie said Iran remains the biggest destabilizing challenge in the Middle East. (AP)
Gen. Kenneth McKenzie said Iran remains the biggest destabilizing challenge in the Middle East. (AP)

General Kenneth McKenzie, head of US Central Command, said that Iran and terrorist organizations remain the most challenging driver of instability in the Middle East.

He affirmed that the US presence in the region is focused on three priorities: fighting terrorism, confronting Iran’s destabilizing attitude in the region and deterring Russia’s and China’s efforts to expand in the strategic region.

During a virtual address to the Middle East Institute, he referred to Iran’s influence in Yemen, Syria and Iraq.

He added that the Israeli army has shown high capability in defying the militias of Iran and its expansionary attempts whether in Syria or along the Iraqi-Syrian border.

Further, the army backed the US operations in eradicating ISIS in these regions.

He stressed that the fight against ISIS in Iraq resulted in successful cooperation with the US-led international coalition.

Yet, McKenzie warned that the threat of ISIS remains even if it no longer represents a strategic threat following its defeat on the ground.

“American national interest begins and ends there,” he said. “We’re not a party to the Yemen civil war.”

However, McKenzie also struck a note of reassurance, saying that the US will “continue to support the Saudis as they defend themselves” against Iran, particularly from attacks on Saudi territory emanating from Yemen.

McKenzie said: “The Taliban continue to resort to extreme violence and targeted killings across the country and frequent attacks on the Afghan forces. While they have mostly avoided attacks on US and coalition units, the level of violence is just simply too high and so that is an action that we look at.”

“I know the administration is taking a close look at the way forward in accordance with the February 2020 peace agreement.”

McKenzie said that some key elements to that plan require the Taliban to take action, but “we all agree that the best path is going to be a negotiated political settlement among the Afghans.”



Putin Suggests Russia and US Could Make a Deal on Nuclear Arms Control

US President Donald Trump meets with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
US President Donald Trump meets with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
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Putin Suggests Russia and US Could Make a Deal on Nuclear Arms Control

US President Donald Trump meets with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
US President Donald Trump meets with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the United States was making "sincere efforts" to halt the war in Ukraine and suggested Moscow and Washington could agree a nuclear arms deal as part of a wider effort to strengthen peace.

Putin was speaking to his most senior ministers and security officials on the eve of a summit in Alaska with US President Donald Trump, who is pressing for an end to the war.

He said in televised comments that the US was "making, in my opinion, quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities, stop the crisis and reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved in this conflict".

This was happening, Putin said, "in order to create long-term conditions for peace between our countries, and in Europe, and in the world as a whole - if, by the next stages, we reach agreements in the area of control over strategic offensive weapons."

His comments signalled that Russia will raise the issue of nuclear arms control as part of a wide-ranging discussion on security when he sits down with Trump in Anchorage for the first Russia-US summit since June 2021, according to Reuters.

Russia and the United States have by far the biggest nuclear arsenals in the world. The last remaining treaty between them that limits the numbers of these weapons is due to expire on February 5 next year.

The New START treaty covers strategic nuclear weapons - those designed by each side to hit the enemy's centres of military, economic and political power - and caps the number of deployed warheads at 1,550 on each side. Both are likely to breach that limit if the treaty is not extended or replaced.

In a symptom of nuclear tensions between the two sides, Trump this month said he had ordered two US nuclear submarines to move closer to Russia because of what he called threatening comments by former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev about the possibility of war between the two countries. The Kremlin played down the move but said "everyone should be very, very careful" with nuclear rhetoric.

Putin's aide Yuri Ushakov said earlier that Putin and Trump will also discuss the "huge untapped potential" for Russia-US economic ties, as well as the prospects for ending the war in Ukraine.

Ushakov told reporters that the summit would start at 1930 GMT, which would be 1130 a.m. local time in Anchorage, with the two leaders meeting one-on-one, accompanied only by translators.

He said delegations from the two countries would then meet and have a working lunch, and the presidents would give a joint news conference.

Ushakov said it was "obvious to everyone" that Ukraine would be the focus of the meeting, but broader security and international issues would also be discussed.

He added: "An exchange of views is expected on further developing bilateral cooperation, including in the trade and economic sphere. I would like to note that this cooperation has huge, and unfortunately hitherto untapped, potential."

Ushakov, who is Putin's foreign policy adviser, said the other members of the Russian delegation would be Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Kirill Dmitriev, Putin's special envoy for investment and economic cooperation.