Kerry: Khamenei’s anti-American remarks ‘disturbing’
Top US diplomat says Washington committed to protecting allies against regional terror and Tehran’s military ambitions
Tamar Pileggi is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
US Secretary of State John Kerry called recent anti-American remarks made by Iran’s supreme leader “disturbing” and reaffirmed US support of its allies in the Middle East who have been pushing back against Tehran’s military ambitions.
Discussing a speech made by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei just four days after Iran and world powers reached a landmark nuclear deal, the secretary of state told the Saudi-based media outlet Al-Arabiya that he took the anti-American remarks “at face value.”
“I do know that often comments are made publicly and things can evolve that are different. If it is the policy, it’s very disturbing, it’s very troubling, and we’ll have to wait and see,” Kerry said in the interview, published Tuesday.
In an address to the Iranian nation, Khamenei vowed that the nuclear agreement with the major powers would not change Iran’s policy against the “arrogant American government”; nor, he said in an apparent reference to Iran-backed insurgent groups in the Middle East, would it change the Islamic Republic’s policy of supporting its “friends” in the region. During the televised speech, he hailed Iranian masses for demanding the destruction of Israel and America, and said he hoped that God would answer their prayers.
Under the deal announced last week, Iran’s nuclear program will be scaled back and monitored as the US and world powers seek to cut off its ability to develop an atomic weapon. In exchange, Iran will see biting economic sanctions gradually lifted, freeing up tens of billions of dollars in oil revenue and frozen assets.
Kerry is scheduled to travel to the Middle East early next month to explain the Iran deal to Gulf leaders unconvinced the agreement will effectively curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions. During his visit, Kerry said, he would detail to his counterparts “all of the ways in which this [nuclear] agreement, in fact, makes the Gulf states and the region safer.
“I will also discuss with them at great length the things that the United States of America is going to do, working with them, in order to push back against the terror and counter-terrorism efforts and other activities in the region that are very alarming to them,” he added.
Despite the harsh criticism of the deal by several US-aligned countries in the Middle East, foremost among them Israel and Saudi Arabia, Kerry asserted that American support for its regional allies remained unchanged.
Gulf leaders have expressed concern that $100 billion in revenue that will be made available to Iran after economic sanctions are lifted will be used to finance its regional interests via proxy militant groups. Kerry however, said that curbing Iran’s nuclear program was an important first step in reining in its military ambitions.
“You have to begin somewhere. We have begun at the most critical place vis-a-vis Israel, the region, and the potential of the nuclear arms race with a nuclear weapon. But we have not for an instant stopped focusing on counter-terrorism, on the nefarious activities, particularly proxies,” he said.
Tehran-linked militant groups have been widely blamed for fueling violence in Israel , Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Kerry said his upcoming meetings with Gulf officials demonstrated that the US was “very attentive to guaranteeing the security of the region.
“We are not kidding when we talk about the importance of pushing back against extremism, against support for terrorism and proxies who are destabilizing other countries. It’s unacceptable,” he said.
Kerry went on to say that even if Iran uses new-found financial assets to bolster its military, Gulf states should not be alarmed, as their military budgets are much larger than Tehran’s. He said that Iran’s current military budget of $15 billion was small compared to that of the Gulf states, which collectively spend some $130 billion on defense annually.
According to sources in Washington, the US has indicated it will provide Israel and Gulf states increased military assistance, an apparent counterweight to the boost the deal will give Iran.
Kerry said that if Arab states could organize themselves effectively, their “untapped potential” was sufficient to push back against an Iranian military offensive.
While he said that the deal did not protect Gulf states from conventional weapons, he was confident that a “very different set of arrangements” could be reached to ensure the safety of the region.
“Obviously, we have to end all of these proxy initiatives, and there are ways to do that,” he emphasized.
When asked if he felt the deal guaranteed Iran would not pursue nuclear weapons in the future, Kerry said “accountability measures” would keep the Islamic Republic’s ambitions at bay.
“Iran has said it won’t, but again, it’s not words that matter, it’s not a statement; it’s acts, it’s actions that you have to measure. And what I do know is that there are very specific inspection and accountability measures that are part of the agreement forever – not for 15 years or 20 years, but forever,” he said.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.