US Senator Calls for Additional Pressure on Iran

A general view of the sun rising behind the White House in Washington, US January 22, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
A general view of the sun rising behind the White House in Washington, US January 22, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
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US Senator Calls for Additional Pressure on Iran

A general view of the sun rising behind the White House in Washington, US January 22, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
A general view of the sun rising behind the White House in Washington, US January 22, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Republican Senator Jim Risch criticized the progress of negotiations with Iran in Vienna. In exclusive statements to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said that talks with Tehran continued to stumble, noting that officials in the administration of President Joe Biden “disagree about the American approach.”

The administration should intensify pressure on Iran and set a specific date for ending negotiations, applying sanctions, imposing additional ones, and adopting a policy of deterrence in the region, he stressed.

Risch, a senior Republican in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, considered that the recent attacks in Al Dhafra (in the vicinity of Abu Dhabi), where US forces are stationed, increased the need for a strong response.

If the Iranian regime refuses to come to the table, the US must be ready to leave the negotiations, he underlined.

Meanwhile, recent statements about the nuclear negotiations reaching a “dangerous crossroads” reflect concern not only of Washington’s allies, but also of the US negotiating team itself.

The US State Department confirmed in press statements the resignation of Richard Nephew, the deputy US special envoy for Iran, which reflects deep differences over the management of the nuclear talks.

While the Wall Street Journal confirmed that two other members of the negotiating team led by Robert Malley had also withdrawn, as they insisted on a “tougher” position with Iran, the newspaper revealed that the nuclear talks had entered a critical stage.

Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Institute for Defense of Democracies in Washington and former director of the Iran Accountability for Weapons of Mass Destruction division at the National Security Council, said that all signs pointed to “increasing desperation” on the part of the US team for any agreement they can get with Iran.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that this would allow the Iranian regime to preserve more of its nuclear gains and obtain more economic benefits at the same time.

According to Goldberg, Richard Nephew was removed from his post last month, and the administration did not plan to announce it. He argued that Nephew’s departure meant that he likely objected to the United States offering terms that come in contradiction with long-term nonproliferation goals and undermine the IAEA’s investigation into Iran’s undeclared nuclear sites, materials, and activities.

Nephew, who had called for a tougher stance in the current negotiations, had not attended the talks in Vienna since early December, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The divisions come at a critical time, with US and European officials warning that there were only a few weeks left to save the 2015 deal before Iran acquired the knowledge and ability to produce nuclear fuel that would allow it to build a nuclear bomb in no time.

Among the points of contention within the US team - informed sources said - is the disagreement over the firmness of enforcing existing sanctions and whether negotiations should be cut short due to the progress of Iran’s nuclear program.

Some members of the US team called for an end to negotiations with Tehran after it reneged on most of the pledges made by the previous Iranian government, led by President Hassan Rouhani. Others argued that it would be impossible to restore the primary objective of the 2015 agreement, i.e. Iran remaining 12 months away from having enough nuclear fuel to build a nuclear weapon.



Biden, Harris Seek 'Full Accountability' after Killing of US Citizen in West Bank

US President Joe Biden (C-R) and Democratic Presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris (C-L) participate in a wreath laying ceremony on observance of the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 11 September 2024. EPA/SHAWN THEW
US President Joe Biden (C-R) and Democratic Presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris (C-L) participate in a wreath laying ceremony on observance of the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 11 September 2024. EPA/SHAWN THEW
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Biden, Harris Seek 'Full Accountability' after Killing of US Citizen in West Bank

US President Joe Biden (C-R) and Democratic Presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris (C-L) participate in a wreath laying ceremony on observance of the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 11 September 2024. EPA/SHAWN THEW
US President Joe Biden (C-R) and Democratic Presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris (C-L) participate in a wreath laying ceremony on observance of the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 11 September 2024. EPA/SHAWN THEW

US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday called the Israeli military's killing of an American activist in the Israeli-occupied West Bank "unacceptable" and said Israel must do more to make sure it never happens again.

Israel has taken responsibility for the death of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, who was killed while taking part in a protest against settlement expansion in the West Bank. Biden said the US government expects continued access to the criminal investigation into the shooting.
"There must be full accountability. And Israel must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again," Biden said in a statement.
Harris said in a separate statement that no one should be killed for participating in a peaceful protest.
"The shooting that led to her death is unacceptable and raises legitimate questions about the conduct of IDF (Israel Defense Forces) personnel in the West Bank," she said.
Eygi, who is also a Turkish national, was shot dead on Friday at a protest march in Beita, a village near Nablus where Palestinians have been repeatedly attacked by far-right Jewish settlers. Israel has said her death was accidental.

For her 26th birthday in July, Eygi gathered friends for a bonfire at one of her favorite places, a sandy beach in Seattle where green-and-white ferries cruise across the dark, flat water and osprey fish overhead.

On Wednesday night, hundreds of people traveled to the same beach in grief, love and anger to mourn her.

As the sun set, turning the sky on the horizon a pale orange, friends recalled Eygi as open, engaging, funny and devoted. The crowd spilled beyond a large rectangle of small black, red, green and white Palestinian flags staked in the sand to mark the venue for the vigil.
Many attendees wore traditional checked scarves — keffiyehs — in support of the Palestinian cause and carried photographs of Eygi in her graduation cap. They laid roses, sunflowers or carnations at a memorial where battery-operated candles spelled out her name in the sand.

Eygi's relatives called on Biden and Harris to speak to the family directly and order an independent investigation into her shooting.
To call her death an accident "is complicity in the Israeli military’s agenda to take Palestinian land and whitewash the killing of an American. ... Let us be clear, an American citizen was killed by a foreign military in a targeted attack," the family said in a statement.
Democratic US Senator Patty Murray and Representative Pramila Jayapal wrote a letter to Biden on Wednesday and requested "an immediate, transparent, credible and thorough" independent US investigation.