U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken warned Monday that Iran was just months away from making enough fine materials to build a nuclear weapon.
Speaking to NBC, the chief US diplomat said it could only be “a few weeks” if Iran continues to lift restrictions agreed in the 2015 nuclear deal that the United States withdrew under President Donald Trump.
Iranian cleric inspects home-built surface-to-surface missiles on display at Imam Khomeini’s Great Mosque in Tehran
(Photo: AP)
Blinken also sharply criticized Russia for its opposition to protesters supporting opposition prison leader Alexei Navalny and said the United States was reviewing possible responses. to be about what Moscow did.
He said he was “deeply moved by the violent crackdown” on Russian protesters on Sunday and nationwide arrests of people demanding the release of Navalny, an obvious criticism of the head of Russian President Vladimir Putin. More than 5,300 people were held in a large-scale demonstration of force.
The Kremlin noted that Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Moscow would shy away from Blinken’s remarks and warned Washington not to impose any new sanctions.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken
(Photo: MCT)
“The Russian government will make a big mistake if it thinks this is about us,” Blinken said in the interview. “It’s about them.” It’s about the government. It’s about the harassment The Russians have a view to corruption, with autocracy, and I think that they need to look in, not out. “
Blinken did not promise specific sanctions against Moscow in the interview, tapped Sunday. He said he was reviewing a response to the actions against Navalny, as well as a crackdown on Russia’s 2020 election, a SolarWinds hack and prosecution bounties for U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
“The president could not have been clearer in his conversation with President Putin,” Blinken said of President Joe Biden’s phone call last week with director of Russia.
Russian police crack down on pro-Navalny protesters
(Photo: EPA)
Blinken also raised an issue with Chinese actions in Hong Kong, saying they had “egregiously” acted to weaken the island and said the United States should accept fugitives. from the crack there.
“If they have suffered a prediction from the Chinese authorities, we should do something to give them a harbor,” he said.
It has also called China ‘s lack of transparency regarding coronavirus a “deep problem”, saying that Beijing is falling far short in allowing experts access to the site where the coronavirus was found. .
On North Korea, Blinken said additional sanctions could be used in coordination with U.S. allies as a way toward the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. Other instruments include anonymous diplomatic encouragement, he said.