Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
New York, The US State Department said Monday in a press conference that it disagrees with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s assertion during his UN speech on Monday that “ISIS and Hamas are branches of the same poisonous tree.”
“Obviously, we’ve designated both as terrorist organizations, but ISIL poses a different threat to Western interests and to the United States,” said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki. “And that’s just a fact.”
Later on in the speech, Netanyahu said that Iran is still a great threat to Israel’s existence. He also warned that Iran is not actually willing to give up nuclear weapons but rather just wants to get rid of the sanctions against them.
In response, Psaki said that the US would like Iran to reintegrate into the international community by showing that their nuclear program is peaceful.
“I can assure anyone that an agreement reached would not be based on a charm offensive or how that impacts us, but on the facts and the details,” she said. “And we’re not going to agree to a comprehensive agreement that doesn’t meet our standards and meet our threshold.”
She brought up other issues, such as Iran’s poor human rights record and terror funding as other factors straining the US relationship with Iran.
When asked at the press conference if she was worried about Iran wanting to use militant Shia Islam to “take over the world,” Psaki said she was more concerned with getting Iran to agree to curb its nuclear activities in exchange for an easing of economic sanctions.
“I can assure you…that obviously we’re focused on the here and now, and our effort is focused on these negotiations and the upcoming deadline in November.”
