Via Teleconference
10:08 A.M. EDT
MODERATOR: Hey, everyone. Thanks for joining. Kirby has a few words here at the top, and then we’ll get through as many questions as we can. Thanks.
MR. KIRBY: Good morning, everybody.
As you all know, the Biden administration has repeatedly warned of the deepening security partnership between Russia and Iran since the outset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
One specific threat we have consistently exposed and warned about is the potential transfer of Iranian missiles to tướng Russia for use in Ukraine. Secretary Blinken mentioned this morning. Here’s the current state of play. I just want to tướng rehash it for you:
As has been reported recently, dozens of Russian military personnel have been trained in Iran to tướng use the Fateh 360 close-range ballistic missile system. Russia has received these shipments of Iranian Fath-360 close-range ballistic missiles and will probably employ them within weeks against Ukraine, which will, of course, lead to tướng the deaths of even more Ukrainian civilians, particularly because of the way they use ballistic missiles against civilian infrastructure.
Moscow possesses an array of its own ballistic missiles, of course, but the supply of these Iranian missiles, which have a maximum range of about 75 miles, could allow Russia to tướng use more of its arsenal for targets beyond the front line, while employing Iranian warheads for closer-range targets. This is obviously deeply concerning, and it certainly speaks to tướng the manner in which this partnership threatens European security and how it illustrates Iran’s destabilizing influence now reaches well beyond the Middle East.
Russia’s tư vấn for Iran is destabilizing as well, as Moscow is sharing technology that Iran needs, including on nuclear issues. And, of course, we know that Russia also shares some space information with Iran. And we’ve been working with our allies to tướng ensure that there is a significant consequence to tướng this action.
Later today, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany will announce their intent to tướng suspend certain lucrative commercial ties with Iran and their state-owned business. We will supplement their rea- — I’m sorry — we will supplement their action with our own sanctions that the Department of Treasury and the Department of State will be announcing later this morning, including additional measures against Iran Air. And we expect allies and partners will be announcing their own measures against Iran as well.
But this is a clear message from the E3 and the United States that if Iran continues to tướng tư vấn the war in Ukraine, there will be significant economic costs.
The new Iranian president and the foreign minister have repeatedly claimed that they want to tướng engage with Europe and garner sanctions relief. Destabilizing actions lượt thích this just fly in the face of that rhetoric and ultimately hurt their own economy.
With that, I can take some questions.
MODERATOR: Thank you. Our first question will go to tướng Trevor with Reuters.
Q Hey, thanks for doing this. Could you talk a little bit more about possible targets for sanctions, and, you know, also this kind of idea about threats to tướng European security? You know, there’s obviously Ukraine, but broader than vãn that, what bởi you see as kind of the risks to tướng Europe right now?
MR. KIRBY: Look, these are close-range ballistic missiles, again, with a range of about 75 miles, so sánh they don’t have a huge range. And we fully expect that Putin will use them, again, inside Ukraine. But we’ve also seen — I got asked about it yesterday, you know — drone and missile fragments falling outside of Ukraine. And you just never know in terms of the potential for miscalculations, for poor accuracy, for the effect on outside of Ukraine. So that’s a concern.
But the larger concern — and I tried to tướng hint at this in the opening comments — is that both Iran and Russia get better because of this partnership. They share technology. They share tactics and procedures. They share intelligence. They share geostrategic ways to tướng better cooperate.
And when you have two destabilizing actors lượt thích this getting closer and reinforcing one another in terms of their — what they believe they need to tướng bởi militarily, that does increase the level of danger. Russia will get — has already benefited from the provision of drones by Iran. They’ll benefit more from this ballistic missile technology. And I think we can all agree, or at least I think we all should agree, that a Russian military that has more capability available to tướng it, to tướng kill innocent Ukrainians, is unsafe for all of us, certainly for our European partners.
And the same is true in the Middle East, Trevor, when you have Iran, that already has a growing and increasingly effective ballistic missile capability, is now available to tướng — they can avail themselves of Russian technology to tướng improve their capabilities. That, too, is dangerous in the Middle East.
So it’s dangerous on both ends of this, not just to tướng Europe, but to tướng the Middle East. And that’s why we’re issuing the sanctions that we’re issuing today.
As for additional details, I’d have to tướng refer you to tướng the Treasury Department on that. I don’t have anything more outside of the announcement of the sanctions to tướng speak to tướng today.
I would also say — and, obviously, you know we don’t pre-announce anything in the future — but we’ll continue to tướng monitor this. And if we feel additional actions, including additional sanctions, are warranted, well, you know, we’ll take action in that regard as well.
MODERATOR: Thank you. Our next question will go to tướng Aamer with the AP.
Q Hi. Thank you both. How many short-range ballistic missiles did Iran transfer? And why did Iran move forward with it now? As you pointed out, you guys have been warning about this and concerned about this for months and months now.
And then, separately, does the administration want to tướng see an independent investigation into the death of the young U.S. Turkish citizen in the West Bank?
And then finally, I just wanted to tướng ask if you had any reaction to tướng that House Republican report on the Afghanistan withdrawal, particularly the suggestion that the White House and NSC was resistant to tướng taking input from agencies and outside. Thanks.
MR. KIRBY: Hey. There’s a lot there. I don’t have the number of missiles for you, Aamer. I really don’t have information to tướng go beyond the downgraded intelligence that Secretary Blinken announced this morning. But we know these missiles have been delivered. But that’s really as far as I’m going to tướng be able to tướng go right now.
On the death of Ms. Eygi: You’ve heard us talk about this. You certainly, I hope, heard Secretary Blinken’s comments in London earlier today. We continue to tướng mourn and grieve with the Eygi family about what happened here. And we note that the Israeli Defense Forces have completed their preliminary investigation in which they found they were at fault. And we also note that they have called for now a criminal investigation to tướng pick up where they left off and move forward.
So we’re going to tướng be watching that very, very closely. We know that’s an unusual step for the IDF. That’s not something that they bởi typically. So, again, it’s noteworthy. We’ll continue to tướng watch where it goes and stay in touch with Israeli leaders as that moves forward, because obviously this is just a tragic, tragic outcome, and as Secretary Blinken said, it should not occur for an innocent bystander to tướng be killed in a protest.
So, again, very, very deeply concerning to tướng us, and we’ll be watching this investigation very closely.
I don’t have anything beyond that to tướng speak to tướng in terms of whether there should be something independent. I think we’re going to tướng want to tướng see where it goes now in terms of the criminal investigation and what they find, and if and how anyone is held accountable, before we move beyond that.
Q On Iran — why now? After months of worrying that this could happen, why bởi you believe it happened now? Why did they make the decision to tướng move forward?
MR. KIRBY: I wish I could get inside the head of the Supreme Leader here and figure out why he’s doing what he’s doing. I can’t bởi that. All I can tell you is that this is something that we had warned about for months, publicly said we were concerned about the possible tren- — transfer of ballistic missiles and ballistic missile technology and expertise to tướng Russia.
We made that — we downgraded that and put that out in the public, and we’ve been watching it ever since. And now we have seen, in fact, this giảm giá khuyến mãi get consummated, and so sánh we’re making that public and doing something about it.
But as for the exact timing, it’s difficult for us to tướng know how they executed on this particular timeline. The timeline is — and I’m not at all picking on your question, Aamer. It’s a fair — absolutely fair question. But the timeline itself is not the most relevant piece. What’s most relevant is that now Russia will have available to tướng it additional ballistic missiles to tướng rain down on the Ukrainian people and Ukrainian infrastructure. And that’s exactly how this guy is going to tướng use these things now.
I mean, I’m not saying he’s not going to tướng target military units; he might bởi that. But what he has been known for doing in the past is using ballistic missiles, because they’re incredibly fast, to tướng hit civilian targets with obviously little or no notice.
And that’s why it’s so sánh important for us to tướng continue to tướng bởi what we have to tướng bởi to tướng improve Ukrainian air defenses. And you saw in the last drawdown package of $250 million, there was additional air defense in there. Secretary Austin just met with the Liên hệ Group last week in Germany, working hard to tướng get additional air defense, lượt thích additional Patriot systems, to tướng Ukraine to tướng help them with this exact threat.
So while we wa- — while we monitored this giảm giá khuyến mãi as it formed, we also did and we’ll continue to tướng bởi everything we can to tướng help Ukraine defend against it.
From the President on down, the NSC, led by Mr. Sullivan, ran a very robust and thorough policy process. And I can tell you, without question, it reflected the input of all the departments and relevant agencies across the government, including military commanders in Kabul, as well as State Department diplomats in Kabul. They were wrapped up into that process and participated.
In fact, throughout the whole spring and summer of ’21, the NSC convened dozens of high-level planning meetings for the withdrawal, including senior leaders, again, from across the government. They coordinated formal rehearsals of the withdrawal and convened tabletop exercises for the interagency — exercises that explored all kinds of different scenarios, including the potential evacuation, not only of diplomats and military personnel, but of civilians.
And of course, there was — there were preps put in place to tướng make sure that we could giảm giá khuyến mãi with a rapid deterioration of the security situation. That’s why Secretary Austin pre-positioned military assets in the region, nearby, for that very eventuality. That all came out of these tabletop exercises and drills that we conducted in that spring.
In fact, just to tướng foot-stomp it even more, even before the President made his final decision about whether to tướng leave Afghanistan, that planning for those kinds of eventualities began in March, before the President made his decision. And again, it included the top leaders across the government. And that planning included, again, withdrawal planning and an trương mục for a full range of contingencies.
I would add one more point here, if you’ll allow bủ.
Throughout that entire time, the NSC solicited input, again, from key officials across the government and on the ground in Kabul, including military commanders with whom NSC leaders spoke personally multiple times, to tướng ensure that we fully understood their views.
So, again, an awful lot of effort across the interagency and early on. And this idea that it was reckless and rushed and not inclusive of an interagency process is just bogus.
Thanks for the opportunity.
MODERATOR: Thank you. Our next question will go to tướng Barak with Axios.
Q Hi. Thank you for this. Kirby, Secretary of State Blinken said again today that the U.S. will present, he said, “in the coming time, very soon,” a new bridging proposal for the Gaza hostage and ceasefire giảm giá khuyến mãi. And at least what I hear from White House officials is a different message that says there’s nothing imminent, that there’s no new proposal that is ready to tướng be presented, and it seems that there’s some sort of a contradictory message coming out from different parts of the administration.
So, I’m a bit confused, so sánh if you can explain what’s going on.
MR. KIRBY: Thanks, Barak. I — it won’t surprise you, but I’m going to tướng say exactly today what I’ve been saying in the last few days: We still have a shoulder to tướng the wheel, and we’re still trying to tướng arrive at a proposal — bridging proposal, if you will — that will get this thing to tướng conclusion and get both sides to tướng agree and get us started into phase one. We are still working at that diligently.
Now, we’re not doing it in the case of, you know, formal negotiation talks at this point. They ended without effect, of course, but the conversations are continuing.
What’s not clear to tướng us, certainly in the wake of the execution of those six hostages, is whether we’re going to tướng be able to tướng get there. What’s not clear to tướng us is whether Hamas will ever be able to tướng come to tướng the table in sincerity and sign on to tướng something. And so sánh, that’s the complicating factor here. It doesn’t mean that the work is not continuing. It is. Secretary Blinken is right; we’re still working on this.
But I just have to tướng say: All that work has been made much more difficult by the events of last weekend and — or the weekend prior to tướng last weekend.
Q But bởi you agree with what he said, that “in the coming time, very soon,” you will present a proposal? Because he said it also last Thursday, I think, or last Friday. And CIA Director Burns said the same thing on Saturday. But, again, it seems that the White House is in a different place. So are you or aren’t you planning to tướng present something in the next few days?
MR. KIRBY: (Inaudible) — give you a prediction of the day it’s going to tướng happen or what it’s going to tướng look lượt thích. I can tell you that we’re still committed to tướng trying to tướng put something forward.
If I could, before you go to tướng the next question — on Trevor’s question about sanctions, I did get some additional information. I just wanted to tướng pass on that in addition to tướng the Iran Air actions that I did mention we and our allies are taking — that those actions were taken — we’re going to tướng be designating individuals and entities in Iran and Russia that are involved in the actual delivery of weapons components and weapons systems, including UAVs and, again, these close-range ballistic missiles.
So I apologize for my incomplete answer to tướng Trevor, but I wanted to tướng go ahead and flesh that out.
MODERATOR: Thank you. Our next question will go to tướng Alex with CNN.
Q Thanks, guys. John, just following up a little bit on Barak and what you said yesterday in terms of Hamas changing the terms of the deal: Is that — did they bởi it implicitly because, of the six hostages, there were three of whom were going to tướng come out in the first phase and, therefore, the giảm giá khuyến mãi necessarily changes? Or did you actually get new terms, new demands, lượt thích more prisoners from Hamas, in the wake of the execution of those six prisoners? How did it change?
MR. KIRBY: My understanding is it was new demands.
Q They wanted additional Palestinian prisoners?
MR. KIRBY: I’m just going to tướng go as far as saying it was new demands put forward by Hamas.
Q So after the six were executed, you then received new terms to tướng be put into a new agreement?
MR. KIRBY: That is correct.
MODERATOR: Thank you. Our next question will go to tướng Kellie with NewsNation.
Q Hey, John. Thanks for taking my question. I just have two here. The first one: Just wanted to tướng ask you about these claims that some Republicans are repeating, including Vance this morning, that Haitian migrants are eating cats and ducks in Ohio. Officials are saying there’s no evidence. Just how dangerous are these kind of comments?
MR. KIRBY: Well, yeah, as you rightly said, the Springfield Police Department actually did, in fact, push back on this absolute nonsense to tướng say it’s not happening.
And what’s deeply concerning to tướng us is you’ve got now elected officials in the Republican Party pushing, you know, yet another conspiracy theory that’s just seeking to tướng divide people based on lies and, let’s be honest, based on an element of racism.
I think all Americans should expect more and better from the people that they’re electing to tướng represent them. And I think what we need to tướng have is, instead of complete BS being pushed out there, is a more meaningful discussion about how we can develop legal pathways for people to tướng come into this country and fair opportunities for them if they come in legally. And that’s what we’re focused on.
It’s dangerous. This kind of language — this kind of disinformation is dangerous because there will be people that believe it no matter how ludicrous and stupid it is, and they might act on that kind of information and act on it in a way where somebody could get hurt. So, it needs to tướng stop.
Q Thank you. And then, just really quickly, if I could ask you: Just — you know, with the debate happening tonight, we’re moving towards the election, can you speak to tướng if and how preparations are being made for — within the NSC for a transition?
MR. KIRBY: You know, look, I’m not going to tướng get into discussions about the politics of it, but, clearly, we all know that no matter how the American people vote in November, there’s going to tướng be a transition to tướng a new administration here come January. And so sánh, as you would expect, it’s a little early, but it’s actually not that early for us to tướng begin to tướng start thinking through what that transition looks lượt thích and developing plans and preparations so sánh that the next administration, whoever that might be, has available to tướng it the information, the context, the history of the decisions that we’ve made, why we’ve made them, how we’ve made them, and that they can avail themselves of all that information and corporate knowledge as they come in.
So those plans are — I’m sorry — those preparations are in swing, as you would expect them to tướng be. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, obviously, and still some time to tướng bởi that, to tướng have all those preparations complete.
At the same time, we’re laser-focused on continuing to tướng execute on the national security interests, prerogatives, and priorities of this administration. And you will continue to tướng see us bởi that every day, all the way up until the 20th of January, and you will continue to tướng see the President, as Commander-in-Chief, lead those efforts.
And so sánh, I expect you’ll also see quite a bit of activity on advancing our national security interests in this administration over the next four months as well.
Q Are you preparing for the possibility of the other, potentially, one candidate not accepting the results? And then, you know, how bởi you — and not accepting that this is — you know, that the security — you know, just how they’re going to tướng go forward with the national security if one person doesn’t accept?
MR. KIRBY: I’m not going to tướng get into hypotheticals, and that wouldn’t be a place for the NSC to tướng comment anyway, one way or the other.
Look, there’s an election coming up in November. Somebody is going to tướng win, and that person is going to tướng be the head of the new administration. And we, here at the National Security Council, take seriously our obligations to tướng make sure that whoever that is and whoever their team is, that they — when they fall in, they fall in on as much context and information that we can provide them to tướng make their decision-making easier. That’s what we’re focused on.
MODERATOR: Thank you. Our next question will go to tướng Lara with the Wall Street Journal.
Q Hello. Can you hear me?
MODERATOR: We can. Yep.
Q Great. I have two questions. One on Ukraine. With Secretary Blinken in Kyiv this week, are there any new efforts by the administration to tướng encourage Ukraine to tướng the negotiating table? Is now the time for negotiations with Putin?
And then secondly, on Afghanistan — and, Kirby, I know you were at the Pentagon during that time, I believe — how involved was the Vice President in the Afghanistan withdrawal discussions? Can you talk a little bit about her role there? Thank you.
MR. KIRBY: So on your first question, Lara, Secretary Blinken is looking forward to tướng getting into Kyiv to tướng get an update from President Zelenskyy and his team about what’s going on on the battlefield; to tướng certainly talk to tướng them about the kinds of capabilities they’re going to tướng need for battlefield success in the coming weeks and months as winter approaches; to tướng reaffirm America’s tư vấn for their efforts to tướng defend themselves and to tướng claim back and claw back territory that the Russians have taken, particularly in the northeast part of the country. And I think, as you would expect, he’ll also talk to tướng them about moving President Zelenskyy’s just peace proposal forward and doing what we can to tướng tư vấn that.
He will make it clear, as we have been consistently saying, that it’s going to tướng be up to tướng President Zelenskyy, if and when he wants to tướng negotiate an over to tướng this war. Certainly, a negotiated over is the most likely outcome here. But when that happens, and under what conditions and circumstances, that’s going to tướng be up to tướng President Zelenskyy. And the point that Secretary Blinken will make is that we’re going to tướng bởi everything we can to tướng make sure that he, if and when he’s ready to tướng make that decision, that he does so sánh from the best possible position.
And so sánh, that’s what this trip is really about. It’s not an arm twisting. It’s about learning, it’s about listening, and it’s about making sure that the Ukrainians know that we’re going to tướng continue to tướng bởi what we can to tướng tư vấn them and, again, put them in the best possible position to tướng negotiate if and when they’re ready.
On your second question: As the Vice President, she was involved in participating in all — and still does — in all major foreign policy decisions of the administration, and that includes the decision to tướng leave Afghanistan, and interagency discussions that I just was talking about earlier on the withdrawal and the execution. She’s the Vice President of the United States, so sánh she was absolutely a participant in all those discussions. So, I’d leave it there.
Q Just on — just a follow-up on Ukraine. Is Secretary Blinken expecting to tướng be briefed on this victory plan that we’ve heard about? And bởi you or any other NSC officials have any details about it?
MR. KIRBY: You’d have to tướng talk to tướng Ukrainians about what they want to tướng bring up with Secretary Blinken specifically. That’s going to tướng be up to tướng them if they have a, quote, unquote, “victory plan” that they want to tướng talk to tướng them about. I don’t know for sure whether that itself will come up.
MODERATOR: Thank you. Our next question will go to tướng Gabe with NBC.
Gabe, you’re on mute. You’re unmuting yourself and then muting yourself. You’re on mute. Now you’re on mute.
Okay, we’re going to tướng — we’re going to tướng move on and try back to tướng you later.
We’re going to tướng now go to tướng Asma with NPR.
Q Hey. Thanks for doing this. I have two quick questions. One is on the sanctions around Iranian Air. John, can you spell out what that means? I’m a little confused, because my understanding is the U.S. doesn’t have flights to tướng Iran. Are you talking about coordination of flights being stopped to tướng European cities? If you could just spell that out.
And then, secondly, on the young woman who was killed in the West Bank, can you also clarify for bủ why — I know you said that, at this point, there’s not plans for a U.S. or independent investigation. Can you help us understand why you bởi not believe that that is necessary?
MR. KIRBY: Yeah, so sánh let bủ take your second one first.
What I said was we’re going to tướng watch and see what their now criminal investigation says before we make any determinations one way or another. So, I think we believe that it’s noteworthy that they’ve moved now from a purely military investigation to tướng a criminal investigation. And we believe it’s prudent to tướng let that investigation lập cập its course and see where it goes before we make any follow-on decisions.
I didn’t say absolutely no Call for an independent investigation. It’s just that we don’t believe that there’s a need to tướng Call for that at this moment. We want to tướng see how this criminal investigation goes forward.
And on the Iran Air, and I’m sorry if I wasn’t more clear about that, but this is basically about the UK and E3 partners canceling bilateral arrangements with Iran and those — canceling those bilateral arrangements, which will restrict Iran Air and their services into the UK and into Europe. So it’s about restricting their movement into (inaudible).
Q So, flights. So, commercial flights, (inaudible).
MR. KIRBY: And we are sanctioning them as well.
Q Got it. Okay. So — sorry, commercial flights would be stopped, you’re saying, between — on this airline — between some European cities and Iran. Is that what you’re saying?
MR. KIRBY: That is my understanding, yes.
Q Okay. And when you say that the U.S. is also sanctioning, what does that mean?
MR. KIRBY: It’s — you know, I’d have to tướng refer you to tướng the Treasury Department for more specifics. But we are sanctioning Iran Air as well.
MODERATOR: Thank you. Our next question will go to tướng Rafael with La Nación.
Q Thank you very much for taking my question. John, you said yesterday at the briefing, when asked about Venezuela, that you are constantly looking at options going forward, depending on the decisions that Maduro makes. Does this mean that you’re holding back on any new sanctions, waiting to tướng see if there’s a new move by the Maduro regime? Are there any — are you waiting to tướng see the results of the negotiations between regional governments and the Maduro regime?
MR. KIRBY: What we’re waiting to tướng see is whether Mr. Maduro is going to tướng bởi the right thing and release the election data to tướng the public so sánh that the Venezuelan people can see the degree to tướng which their will was actually met. That’s what we’re waiting to tướng see. But — and we want to tướng see it now.
What I’m — I’m not — this isn’t about holding anything back. We actually have issued sanctions on the Maduro government, and we won’t be bashful about doing it in the future if we feel we need to tướng bởi it. But what needs to tướng happen right now is Mr. Maduro needs to tướng bởi the right thing, stop intimidating and falsely charging his opponents, and release the election data.
Q What makes you think that there’s going to tướng be a change in attitude from the Maduro regime or that, you know, the talks between Maduro and Brazil, Colombia, Mexico are going to tướng yield results, you know, towards a democratic transition?
MR. KIRBY: (Inaudible.) And again, the sanctions that we’ve issued, and whatever potential sanctions might be coming, will be done in accordance with our national interests, and they’ll be appropriately calibrated.
MODERATOR: Thank you. We’ll try again to tướng go to tướng Gabe with NBC.
Q Hey, this is Gabe’s producer here. Gabe went to tướng the sự kiện. I just wanted to tướng see if we could get any confirmation on these reports that the Quad Summit was going to tướng be held in Wilmington this year, and any information on why it would not be in India.
MR. KIRBY: I don’t have anything with respect to tướng this — a potential meeting to tướng talk about today. Nothing to tướng announce.
MODERATOR: Thank you. And that is all the time we have today. As always, if we weren’t able to tướng get to tướng you, reach out to tướng the distro and we’ll try to tướng get back to tướng you as soon as we can. Thank you.
10:41 A.M. EDT