Trump's trashing of Iran deal poses problems for NK strategy

News

Trump's trashing of Iran deal poses problems for NK strategy

2017-09-21 11:40 Last Updated At：11:40

President Donald Trump's threat before the world to obliterate North Korea left no doubt about his determination to stop the communist country's nuclear weapons buildup. His disparagement of the Iran nuclear deal in the same speech offered Pyongyang little hope of a negotiated solution.

In his maiden address at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump spelled out in blunt and personal terms the reasons why Kim Jong Un and his government should be treated as pariahs. It was a surprisingly brutal indictment, even by the standards of a president who has spoken about unleashing "fire and fury" on Kim's country if it didn't end its nuclear provocations.

Trump said not only has the North Korean government starved its citizens and killed opponents, it was now threatening the world with "unthinkable loss of life."

"It is time for North Korea to realize that the denuclearization is its only acceptable future," Trump said.

He offered no path toward making that future a reality.

Despite Trump's rhetoric, his administration insists it is seeking a diplomatic resolution. Any military intervention designed to eliminate the North's nuclear and missile arsenal would almost surely entail dire risks for U.S. allies in the region, particularly South Korea, lying in range of the North's vast stockpiles of weaponry.

Asked about Trump's address, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis reiterated his preference Tuesday.

"We will hopefully get this resolved through diplomatic means," Mattis told reporters in Washington.

But other than using economic pressure to try to compel Pyongyang to give away its nuclear weapons — a strategy that has failed for the past decade — Trump's administration has yet to lay out a strategy for a possible negotiated settlement. In recent weeks, the administration's lack of direction has been all too apparent, as Trump and other top officials have vacillated between bellicose talk of possible military action and, at one point, even praise for Kim for a brief lull in missile tests.

"In the absence of such a policy roadmap, the president's words won't change North Korea's behavior," said Frank Jannuzi, an East Asia expert and president of the Washington-based Mansfield Foundation. "Nor will they bolster Chinese, Russian or allied confidence in the U.S. approach."

Fears of a military confrontation are increasing. North Korea conducted a series of provocative launches in recent months, including a pair of intercontinental missiles believed capable of striking the continental United States and another pair that soared over Japanese territory. It also exploded its most powerful nuclear bomb to date. Prodded by Washington, the U.N. has responded with the toughest economic sanctions on North Korea yet.

Still, the impasse is no closer to being resolved. Russia and China, which backed the new sanctions, want the U.S. to seek dialogue with the North. American officials say the time isn't right for any formal diplomatic process.

Instead, Trump has escalated the name calling. On Tuesday, he derisively referred to Kim as a "Rocket Man" on a "suicide mission."

Trump also made a direct comparison between the "reckless regimes" in Pyongyang and Tehran, which rolled back its nuclear program only two years ago.

The comparison could reinforce Kim's view that he needs nuclear-armed, intercontinental ballistic missiles to deter the U.S. from attacking him, according to Mark Fitzpatrick at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

"Denouncing a deal that all other parties are upholding will certainly not make the North Koreans any more disposed toward striking a deal with the United States over their nuclear program," he said.

Trump called the Iran deal one-sided and "an embarrassment to the United States." His comments heightened anticipation that Trump might declare Iran in violation of the seven-nation agreement, and even destroy it entirely, despite a U.N. report this month showing Iran was living up to its end of the bargain.

The Obama administration, which forged the Iran deal, never lost an opportunity to point out how it showed Washington was willing to reach a deal with an adversary prepared to negotiate in good faith. It often made that argument explicitly when talking about North Korea.

Pyongyang may be completely uninterested.

The North has virtually closed the door to a diplomatic resolution, said Evans Revere, a former senior State Department official who participated in unofficial talks with North Korean officials in Switzerland this month. "Defiance and confrontation, not dialogue, seem to be at the center of Pyongyang's thinking these days," he said. "That's a dangerous place to be."

Nevertheless, U.S. allies don't want Trump to close off the possibility of a peaceful end to the crisis.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday rejected Donald Trump's threatening approach. She offered to help negotiate a solution similar to that reached with Iran.

"I think we must take the same path or a similar one, with Russia, with China, together with the US, also in the case of North Korea," she told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

Speaking shortly before Trump at the U.N. on Tuesday, the world body's secretary-general urged diplomacy.

"Fiery talk can lead to fatal misunderstandings," Antonio Guterres said. "This is a time for statesmanship. We must not sleepwalk our way into war."

The Latest | Israeli drone strike kills 2 in Lebanon after Hezbollah fires at an Israeli convoy

2024-04-27 03:26 Last Updated At：03:30

An Israeli drone strike on a car in eastern Lebanon killed two people Friday, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency says. The strike came after Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group carried out an attack along the border that killed an Israeli civilian.

Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire on a near-daily basis along the border since the start of Israel-Hamas war nearly seven months ago.

Egypt sent a high-level delegation to Israel on Friday for talks seeking to push through a cease-fire agreement with Hamas and avert an Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip city of Rafah, officials said.

More than half of Gaza's population of 2.3 million have sought refuge in Rafah. The city is on the border with Egypt, which warned that a possible Israeli offensive focused on Rafah could have catastrophic consequences to regional stability.

The Israeli military has massed dozens of tanks and armored vehicles in the area in what appears to be preparations for an invasion of the city.

The Israel-Hamas war was sparked by the unprecedented Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel says the militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

The war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, around two-thirds of them children and women.

Currently:

— Egypt sends delegation to Israel, its latest effort to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas

— Private security company says missile fire seen off the Yemen coast in the Red Sea near crucial strait

— Premature baby girl rescued from her dead mother’s womb dies in Gaza after 5 days in an incubator

— A U.S.-led effort to bring aid to Gaza by sea is moving forward, but big concerns remain

— As some U.S. universities negotiate with pro-Palestinian protesters, others quickly call the police

— Students at prestigious Paris university occupy campus building in pro-Palestinian protest

Here is the latest:

UNITED NATIONS — U.N. investigators say Israel has alleged that 19 employees of the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel and they are now investigating 14 cases.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Friday that the U.N. internal watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, has closed one case because Israel provided no evidence. Four others have been suspended for lack of sufficient evidence.

In January, Israel alleged that 12 employees of the Palestinian refugee agency known as UNRWA participated in the Oct. 7 attacks. Dujarric said Israel has since made allegations against seven additional employees.

Dujarric provided no details on the allegations.

Dujarric said OIOS investigators had met with authorities in Israel and would undertake another visit in May.

“These discussions are continuing and have so far been productive and have enabled progress on the investigations,” he said, adding that there is no indication of when the OIOS probes will be finished.

The update Dujarric followed Monday’s release of an independent review of UNRWA’s neutrality. That review found that Israel never expressed concern about anyone on the staff lists it has received annually since 2011 from the U.N. agency.

BEIRUT — An Israeli drone strike on a car in eastern Lebanon killed two people Friday, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency says.

The Israeli military said it targeted an official with Lebanon’s al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Group, that is allied with Hezbollah. It has been active in predominantly Sunni Muslim villages along the Lebanon’s southern border with Israel.

The Israeli military said the man killed was Musab Khalaf. It says Khalaf was behind attacks on Israeli troops in the disputed Chebaa Farms that Israel captured from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war. The Lebanese government says the area belongs to Lebanon.

An official with al-Jamaa al-Islamiya refused to confirm NNA's report when contacted by The Associated Press. The attack occurred on a road near the eastern village of Maydoun, NNA said without identifying the two killed.

The strike came a day after Hezbollah carried out an attack along the border that killed an Israeli civilian.

Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire on a near-daily basis along the border since the start of the war in Gaza nearly seven months ago. Hezbollah says it is acting in solidarity with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose deadly Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel triggered the war.

JERUSALEM — Missiles suspected to have been fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels landed in the Red Sea on Friday, a private security company said.

The attack follows an uptick in assaults launched by the Houthis in recent days after a relative lull in their monthslong campaign over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The private security company Ambrey said three missiles could be seen in the attack, which landed closest to a Panama-flagged, Seychelles-registered tanker it described as being “engaged in Russia-linked trade.” The vessel was traveling from Primorsk, Russia, to Vadinar, India, Ambrey said.

Those details corresponded to a tanker called the Andromeda Star, which had been previously broadcasting its location off Mocha, Yemen, according to ship-tracking data.

The Houthis did not immediately claim the missile fire, though it typically takes the rebels several hours to acknowledge their attacks.

The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, was injured in a car accident and brought to the hospital Friday after visiting the scene of a stabbing attack in central Israel, according to Israeli police and Hebrew media.

Ben-Gvir’s office said he was in good condition. The statement also said that Ben-Gvir’s daughter, a security guard, and a driver were lightly injured.

He had just visited the scene where Israeli police said a young woman had been stabbed several times in the back by a militant on Friday. Paramedics brought her to the hospital in serious condition.

Israel’s police chief said the attacker was chased by civilians for about a kilometer before he tried to stab another woman. He was then shot dead by a civilian with a licensed weapon.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, Palestinians have carried out a number of attacks against Israelis, some of them deadly. Violence also has surged in the West Bank, with 489 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and settlers, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The car accident involving Ben-Gvir injured three people, police said. Hebrew media aired footage of a black car overturned on the road and quoted a witness who said that the car had run a red light.

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday denied rumors that drones and ballistic missile strikes from Iran's attack on Israel on April 13 were intercepted due to early detection by a NATO radar base in southeastern Turkey.

“The radar center in Kurecik (Malatya province) does not and cannot have any relationship, bond or contact with any state other than the security of our country and our alliance,” he said

Speaking at a televised pro-Palestinian event, Erdogan also reiterated that Turkey has cut diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel and will impose more trade restrictions.

“From a commercial perspective, the only country that imposes export restrictions on Israel in 54 product groups is Turkey,” Erdogan said.

Turkey, a staunch critic of Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip, announced that it was restricting exports of 54 types of products to Israel in early April. They include aluminum, steel, construction products, jet fuel and chemical fertilizers. In response, Israel banned products from Turkey.

The heads of Israel’s major research universities signed a letter Friday expressing deep concern over what they viewed as a surge of antisemitism at American colleges as pro-Palestinian protests sweep campuses across the United States.

In the letter, the university heads allege that the recent demonstrations have created “a climate where Israeli and Jewish students and faculty members feel compelled to hide their identities or avoid campuses altogether for fear of physical harm.” The letter did not include specific examples.

The statement comes as pro-Palestinian protesters set up encampments at universities across the country.

Many are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the conflict.

Israel and its supporters have branded the protests as antisemitic, while critics of Israel say it uses such allegations to silence opponents.

While some protesters have been caught on camera making antisemitic remarks or violent threats, organizers of the protests, some of whom are Jewish, say it is a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting the war.

“Freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate are vital to the health of any democracy,” wrote the college presidents, whose association goes by the acronym VERA in Israel. “However, these freedoms do not include the right to to engage in violence, make threats against communities, or call for the destruction of the state of Israel.”

They said that they would help Jewish students and faculty wishing to move to Israel.

CAIRO — Egypt sent a high-level delegation to Israel in the hope of reaching a cease-fire agreement with Hamas in Gaza, while warning a possible new Israeli offensive focused on the southern city of Rafah on the border with Egypt could have catastrophic consequences for regional stability, two officials said Friday.

Egypt’s top intelligence official, Abbas Kamel, is leading the delegation and plans to discuss a “new vision” on establishing a prolonged cease-fire in Gaza with Israeli officials, an Egyptian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to freely discuss the mission.

Talks will focus at first on a limited exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners, along the return of a significant number of displaced Palestinians to their homes in northern Gaza “with minimum restrictions,” the official said.

The hope is that negotiations will then continue, with the goal of a larger deal to end the war, he said.

Hamas has said it will not back down from its demands for a permanent cease-fire and full withdrawal of Israeli troops, both of which Israel has refused. Israel says it will continue military operations until Hamas is definitively defeated and will retain a security presence in Gaza afterwards.

Israel has also been conducting near-daily raids on Rafah, a city in which more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have sought refuge.

While in Israel, Kamel plans to make clear that Egypt “will not tolerate” Israel’s deployments of troops along Gaza’s borders with Egypt, the Egyptian official said.

A Western diplomat in Cairo also said that Egypt has intensified its efforts in recent days to reach a compromise and establish a short cease-fire in Gaza that will help negotiate a longer truce and avert the Rafah offensive.

The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss the developments.

— Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed.

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group fired anti-tank missiles and artillery shells at an Israeli military convoy in a disputed area along the border, killing an Israeli civilian, the group and Israel’s military said Friday.

Hezbollah said that its fighters ambushed the convoy on Thursday shortly before midnight, destroying two vehicles.

The Israeli military said the ambush wounded an Israeli civilian doing infrastructure work, and that he later died of his wounds.

The incident took place in a disputed area known in Lebanon as the Kfar Chouba hills and in Israel as Har Dov. The area was captured by Israel from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war and is are part of Syria’s Golan Heights that Israel annexed in 1981. The Lebanese government says the area belongs to Lebanon.

Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire on a near-daily basis along the border since the start of the war in Gaza nearly seven months ago. Hezbollah says it is acting in solidarity with the Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, which triggered the war with its deadly Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel.

The low-intensity fighting has repeatedly threatened to boil over as Israel has targeted senior Hezbollah militants in recent months.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the border.

On the Israeli side, the cross-border fighting has killed 10 civilians and 12 soldiers. In Lebanon, more than 350 people have been killed, including 50 civilians and 271 Hezbollah members.