US Administration Focuses on Supporting Iranian People, Not the Nuclear Deal

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. AFP
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. AFP
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US Administration Focuses on Supporting Iranian People, Not the Nuclear Deal

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. AFP
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. AFP

The Biden administration has launched high-level talks with representatives of US tech companies to discuss supporting the free flow of information to the Iranian people.

This came as State Department spokesman Ned Price declared that the administration is currently focusing on supporting the protesters and that the 2015 nuclear agreement with Tehran "is not our focus right now" after efforts to restore it reached another impasse.

Regarding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Price said the Iranians have made it very clear that this is not an agreement they have been prepared to make, adding that "a deal certainly does not appear imminent. Iran's demands are unrealistic."

"Nothing we've heard in recent weeks suggests they have changed their position," noted the spokesman, adding that the administration's focus right now is the "remarkable bravery and courage that the Iranian people are exhibiting through their peaceful demonstrations, through their exercise of their universal right to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression."

In September, the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, said about the nuclear talks that he does not see any "prospects in the very near term to bring this to a conclusion".

He accused Iran of adding extraneous issues to the negotiation that "we are simply not going to say yes. We will not accept a bad deal."

He added that the response they gave to the last proposals put forward by the European partners had been a very significant step backward.

Amid the stalemate, the Biden administration unveiled a series of measures to punish the Iranian regime for its suppression of the people.

-Sullivan denounces Raisi

For his part, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan asserted in a series of tweets that the US "stands with the Iranians."

"The world is watching what is happening in Iran," he said, referring to several protesters, including a young girl, who were shot dead. He condemned the statement of Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, who compared protestors to "flies."

Sullivan indicated that these "protestors are Iranian citizens, led by women and girls, demanding dignity and basic rights." He vowed to support the protesters, adding that Washington would hold responsible those using violence in a vain effort to silence their voices.

- Internet access

Last month, the US issued a General License (GL) D-2 to increase support for internet freedom in Iran. The GLD-2 will expand the range of internet services available to Iranians and allow them to circumvent domestic internet controls.

During a roundtable discussion in Washington with global technology companies about increasing Iranians' access to communication tools, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman stated that Iranian authorities had blocked access to the Internet amid violent protests and repression of the Iranian people.

"A lot of American technology companies are already providing new services to Iranians under the new license," she added.

She thanked the companies for taking the initiative to supply the tools, saying it is an opportunity to help connect the Iranian people to the Internet.

"As more technology companies offer them software, services, and hardware, the Iranian people's ability to communicate with each other and their digital ties to the rest of the world will strengthen. And it will become more costly for their government to sever access in the future," she said.

Sherman asserted that as more Iranians gain access to the latest software and services that meet global standards for digital security and anti-surveillance technologies, they can better protect themselves from government repression.



Evacuations and Call for Aid as Typhoon Usagi Approaches Philippines

A villager on a wooden boat paddles on a flooded village caused by Typhoon Toraji in Tuguegarao city, Cagayan city, Philippines, 13 November 2024. (EPA)
A villager on a wooden boat paddles on a flooded village caused by Typhoon Toraji in Tuguegarao city, Cagayan city, Philippines, 13 November 2024. (EPA)
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Evacuations and Call for Aid as Typhoon Usagi Approaches Philippines

A villager on a wooden boat paddles on a flooded village caused by Typhoon Toraji in Tuguegarao city, Cagayan city, Philippines, 13 November 2024. (EPA)
A villager on a wooden boat paddles on a flooded village caused by Typhoon Toraji in Tuguegarao city, Cagayan city, Philippines, 13 November 2024. (EPA)

The Philippines ordered evacuations Wednesday ahead of Typhoon Usagi's arrival, as the UN's disaster office sought $32.9 million in aid for the country after recent storms killed more than 150 people.

The national weather service said Usagi -- the archipelago's fifth major storm in three weeks -- would likely make landfall Thursday in Cagayan province on the northeast tip of main island Luzon.

Provincial civil defense chief Rueli Rapsing said mayors had been ordered to evacuate residents in vulnerable areas, by force if necessary, as the 120 kilometers (75 miles) an hour typhoon bears down on the country.

"Under (emergency protocols), all the mayors must implement the forced evacuation, especially for susceptible areas," he told AFP, adding as many as 40,000 people in the province lived in hazard-prone areas.

The area is set to be soaked in "intense to torrential" rain on Thursday and Friday, which can trigger floods and landslides with the ground still sodden from recent downpours, state weather forecaster Christopher Perez told reporters.

He urged residents of coastal areas to move inland due to the threat of storm surges and giant coastal waves up to three meters (nine feet) high, with shipping also facing the peril of 8–10-meter waves.

A sixth tropical storm, Man-yi, is expected to strengthen into a typhoon before hitting the center of the country as early as Friday, Perez said.

With more than 700,000 people forced out of their homes, the successive storms have taken a toll on the resources of both the government and local households, the UN said late Tuesday.

About 210,000 of those most affected by recent flooding need support for "critical lifesaving and protection efforts over the next three months", the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.

"Typhoons are overlapping. As soon as communities attempt to recover from the shock, the next tropical storm is already hitting them again," UN Philippines Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Gustavo Gonzalez said.

"In this context, the response capacity gets exhausted and budgets depleted."

The initiative "will help us mobilize the capacities and resources of the humanitarian community to better support government institutions at national, regional and local levels," Gonzalez added.

More than 28,000 people displaced by recent storms are still living in evacuation centers operated by local governments, the country's civil defense office said in its latest tally.

Government crews were still working to restore downed power and communication lines and clearing debris from roads.

About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the archipelago nation or its surrounding waters each year, killing scores of people and keeping millions in enduring poverty.

A recent study showed that storms in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change.