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The lifting of the foreign terrorist designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is a matter unrelated to the Iran nuclear deal, a senior US State Department official has said.
Speaking exclusively to The National, State Department Counsellor Derek Chollet said that a “clear offer” has been made to the Iranians “after weeks of painstaking negotiations”. He added that “the ball is in Iran's court right now”.
However, the Iranians have yet to respond to the offer, as they seek to expand the benefits reaped from a potential deal, including removing the IRGC from the US blacklist of foreign terrorist organisations, a listing dating back to 2019 under president Donald Trump.
The move was part of the previous administration's efforts to apply “maximum pressure” on Iran.
Responding to a question about the terrorist designation of the IRGC, Mr Chollet said “it's unrelated to the nuclear issue … so we see that as a separate issue. And we have made that very clear”.
The US is not engaging directly with the Iranians in the negotiations being held in Vienna, and has been eager to get a deal concluded. However, Mr Chollet noted that his country would be willing to walk away if necessary. “Our bottom line remains the same, which is Iran cannot be allowed to have the capability to have a nuclear weapon,” he said.
He went on to tell The National: “We have what we believe is a good way forward in terms of the return of the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] … but Iran has not yet responded to that.”
Mr Chollet is a State Department veteran who previously served as US assistant secretary of defence for international security affairs from 2012 to 2015 in the Obama administration.
He advises Secretary of State Antony Blinken on key foreign policy issues, including the Iran nuclear deal.
Talks to restore the 2015 JCPOA, which the US abandoned four years ago under former president Trump, have taken place intermittently over the last several months but now appear stalled.
Mr Chollet spoke at length about the war in Ukraine, stating that Russia has fallen short in the strategic goals it set for the invasion, leaving President Vladimir Putin isolated on the world stage as his country's economy buckles under the weight of western sanctions. He said that many of Mr Putin's original war goals had objectively failed after 10 weeks of conflict.
“In some ways, Russia has already lost the original aims of the war. Putin very clearly wanted to occupy Kyiv, to take over Kyiv, to remove the Zelenskyy government from power and to subjugate Ukraine,” Mr Chollet explained late on Tuesday. “He has failed in that effort.”
Pointing to successive rounds of sanctions imposed by western powers against Russian businesses and oligarchs, Mr Chollet described Moscow as having suffered a strategic failure “because their economy is cratering (and) their military is under great stress”.
“We've seen hundreds and hundreds of major businesses flee Russia and Putin is more isolated in the world than ever before,” Mr Chollet said.
The US has already rushed $3.8 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since the February 24 invasion, with much more coming. Western military aid including US anti-tank Javelin missiles has been crucial in bolstering the Ukrainian military.
President Joe Biden on Monday signed a law that will expedite the process of resupplying the Ukrainians with weapons. The move comes as the US Congress prepares to unleash resources of at least $33 billion to help Ukraine.
Mr Chollet said ordinary Russians are suffering the consequences of Mr Putin's “war of choice” in Ukraine, “which is something we very much regret”.
Mr Chollet, who started his career in Washington in the early 1990s under then-secretary of state James Baker, has said the fact Russia has had to refocus its military priorities on the Donbas region shows Moscow has narrowed its objectives.
Mr Putin may also end up strengthening the Nato alliance that he has said threatens Russian security in Eastern Europe, Mr Chollet noted.
He pointed to Finland and Sweden, which have both said they may seek to join the transatlantic alliance.
“The mere fact that we are talking about the possibility of Finland and Sweden joining the Nato alliance, which I can guarantee was not something any of us were thinking about at the beginning of this year, that shows right then and right there how Putin's war is backfiring on him,” he said.
Nato would welcome the two countries “with open arms” Mr Chollet said, stressing his country's support for such a move.
He also sees the “strategic decoupling” of western energy markets from Russia as a “strategic game changer”, but warned “we should expect that this war will unfortunately drag on”. He went on to say “there's no sign as of yet that Vladimir Putin is willing at all to reassess his own maximalist objectives”.
“We need to brace ourselves for what is going to be a long fight, potentially.”
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An injured Ukrainian service member sits at a field hospital inside Azovstal steel works in Mariupol, Ukraine. Reuters -
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a meeting in Kyiv with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra. Reuters -
Ukrainian servicemen study a Swedish shoulder-launched weapon system during a training session near Kharkiv. AP Photo -
Russian emergency personnel clear debris inside Mariupol's drama theatre. AFP -
Ukrainian servicemen study a map near Kharkiv. EPA -
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends an online meeting with the Saratov region's acting governor, Roman Busargin, in Moscow. AP -
Belgian soldiers take part in a Nato military exercise near Munster, Germany. Getty -
Ukraine's prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova, left, speaks with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, right, during her visit to mass graves in Bucha, Ukraine. EPA -
A guard of honour stands at attention during the funerals of Sgt Olexandr Moisenko and Sergiy Turpetko in Lviv, Ukraine. Getty -
Plumes of smoke rise above the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol amid Russian shelling. AFP -
US President Joe Biden signs into law a measure making it easier for Washington to send weapons and supplies to the government in Kyiv. Bloomberg -
A Ukrainian soldier fires with a mortar, in the Kharkiv region. Reuters -
The Eiffel Tower is lit up in blue and yellow, the national colours of Ukraine, to express solidarity with its people at the request of the French Presidency of the EU, in Paris. Reuters -
A Ukrainian Army tank drives over an infantryman during a training exercise near Kryvyi Rih. Getty Images -
A Ukrainian soldier rests in his room at a front-line field hospital near Popasna, Luhansk region. EPA -
Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the Memorial to Hero Cities at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier after the Victory Day military parade in Moscow. EPA -
Ukrainian refugees from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol are seen in a bus as they arrive at a humanitarian aid centre for internally displaced people, in Zaporizhzhia. Reuters -
A hotel complex destroyed by a Russian missile is pictured in Odesa, Ukraine. Reuters -
Maksym, 3, is photographed with his brother, Dmytro, 16, on top of a destroyed Russian tank on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. AP Photo -
A video of a press conference from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol by Azov regiment servicemen Illia Samoilenko, right, and Sviatoslav Palamar, seen on a computer screen in Kyiv. EPA -
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy take part in a online meeting of G7 leaders in Kyiv. Reuters -
US first lady Jill Biden greets Olena Zelenska, wife of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, outside a public school in Uzhhorod, Ukraine. Reuters -
Irish singer and activist Bono, the lead vocalist of rock band U2, performs at a subway station that has been turned into a bomb shelter in Kyiv. AFP -
A boy looks out of a bus window as people evacuated from Mariupol arrive in Zaporizhzhia. AFP -
A night-vision image shows fire on Ukraine's Zmiinyi Island. Reuters -
Women sing the Ukrainian national anthem below the Euro Monument during a demonstration in Frankfurt, Germany. AP -
Emergency personnel at a school building hit by shelling, in the village of Bilohorivka, Luhansk. Reuters -
A man plays piano in an abandoned photo studio in Severodonetsk, eastern Ukraine. AFP -
A man and his son wait for an evacuation bus in Lysychansk, eastern Ukraine. AFP -
Volunteers deliver food supplies to residents, taken from the warehouse of a humanitarian aid distribution centre in Severodonetsk. AFP -
An unexploded ordnance on a road in Severodonetsk. AFP -
Galina Abdurashikova, 65, has been staying in an abondoned car in front of her apartment since her room was destroyed by shelling five days ago, in Severodonetsk. AFP -
A large hole at the site where a missile strike hit a residential area in Bakhmut, Donetsk region. Reuters -
A man searches for useful items inside his house after a missile strike in a residential area, in Bakhmut. Reuters -
Two men look at the damage after a missile struck a cement plant, in Bakhmut. Reuters -
Civilians attempting to leave Mariupol wait in line at a checkpoint near the temporary accommodation centre in Bezimenoye village. EPA -
Civilians who were evacuated from Azovstal, walk in the temporary accommodation centre in Bezimenoye village, near Mariupol. EPA -
A cyclist photographs the destroyed bridge over the Irpin river, in Irpin. Getty Images -
A residential area destroyed by Russian shelling, in Irpin. Reuters -
People with their luggage walk to a station to wait for the evacuation train heading to the west of Ukraine, in Pokrovsk, Donetsk region. EPA -
A volunteer shapes metal plates at a factory producing material for Ukrainian soldiers in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. AP -
Workers clean shattered glass and debris in front of a residential building next to a site of a Russian missile attack in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa. AFP -
A Ukrainian Army tank moves towards a fron-tline position in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Getty Images -
Eugene Yevchenko cries as he bids farewell to his daughter Maria at a coach station in Lviv. Getty Images -
A child stands on a destroyed Russian tank near Makariv, Kyiv region. Reuters -
A Ukrainian national guard soldier mans a fighting position near the front line in Zelenodolsk. Getty Images -
Museum workers carry the sculpture of Ukrainian philosopher Hryhorri Skovoroda from the destroyed building of the Hryhoriy Skovoroda National Literary Memorial Museum in the village of Skovorodynivka, in Kharkiv Region. AFP
Returning to the region, Mr Chollet spoke about the importance of relations with partners in the Middle East and North Africa.
And while Mr Biden has yet to visit the region since he took office, Mr Chollet noted that the Covid-19 pandemic had made travel more difficult. He went on to say “our engagement with our partners throughout the Middle East is something that's a high priority for President Biden and for Secretary Blinken”.
On Lebanon, Mr Chollet said his country was willing to work with a future government but stressed the importance of the elections being “free and peaceful”. He added: “That's critical in any election anywhere, but particularly right now and in Lebanon, a country that seems so much instability over so many years.”
He said the US was “hoping that the election is free and fair and stable and moves forward as planned, then we'll look forward to working with the duly-elected government, but I want to let the people of Lebanon speak.”
