United States Department Of State

2:09 p.m. EST

MR PRICE: Good afternoon. Now, if you’ll bear with me, I really have only seven or eight toppers to get by way of at present.

No, really, I only have one. As lots of you might have surmised, this shall be my last on-camera briefing. And so, together with your forbearance, I need to spend just a couple minutes providing some parting thoughts.

As I was thinking about what to say, I took a glance back at my first briefing on February 2nd of 2021. I realized in doing so just how a lot has modified over the past couple of years.

First, that briefing was only 38 minutes long. (Laughter.) Could you imagine? I know many of you’ve pined for those days.

Here’s what else has modified: You have been all so well mannered, you have been introducing yourselves, you were limiting yourselves to a single query, to being considered with follow-ups. I’ve since pined for these days.

And searching on this room now, there are actually many extra of you than there were on February 2nd of 2021. Now, perhaps that has something to do with the reality that we’ve lifted the COVID capacity limits. But, again, it’s my final briefing, so let me suppose for just a second that it has more to do with making this room the place to be for overseas coverage reporters.

Let the transcript mirror there was no laughter. That’s great. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: That’s as a end result of they’re all watching Kirby’s Zoom call. (Laughter.)

MR PRICE: Thank you, Matt. I would anticipate nothing less on my final day.

And perhaps they’ve since accomplished one thing with the lighting on this room, but trying back at that first briefing, I suppose my hair seemed distinctly darker on the time. Now, I’d never need to indicate that this group made me go even grayer.

But on the other hand, a lot has remained the same over the past couple years. Some of my answers to those first questions a couple years ago, while wordy, might not have been entirely responsive. I used plenty of references to “allies and partners.” We began that briefing by calling on our distinguished colleague from the AP. We additionally heard from mentioned colleague during the middle of the briefing; we heard from stated colleague on the end of the briefing.

And talking of Matt, he at one level interjected to offer his own thoughts about how I should run the briefing room. So, as I said, not much has changed over the past couple years.

In all seriousness, though, there is so much else that has remained fixed. Every day since then I’ve walked into the briefing room with a staff by my facet, and the staff you see right here today — Vedant, Nathan, Jen, Julia — is just a sliver of the larger enterprise without which I couldn’t do my job. The podium could also be made for one individual, but the briefing requires the assist and teamwork of so many more, from my colleagues throughout the bureaus who transient me every single day to come out and to subject your inquiries to the members of the press team who oversee that course of, to our video staff and technical consultants throughout the building, to those that have the onerous chore of transcribing and later disseminating every single word that’s uttered on this room.

I said during my first briefing that I was proud to name the public servants across the State Department colleagues. That was greater than 200 briefings ago. And now that I’ve reached the final in-person briefing, I should say that I’m each proud and immensely grateful to name them colleagues. As I informed my colleagues final week, any success I’ve had on this job is a product of that very partnership. All of my failures, on the opposite hand, are attributable to me and to Matt Lee. (Laughter.)

And talking of those failures, I’ve been able to do that job taking the robust questions on difficult, advanced points because I’ve all the time recognized that my colleagues in any respect levels will have my again – even, and particularly, after I may have missed the mark.

I advised this story when Secretary Blinken surprised all of us — me most of all — right here final week. But on his first day in workplace, in his first assembly, the first steerage out of his mouth was to convey that we ought to be operating on our toes, not on our heels, in telling the story of America’s function in the world. And he hastened to add that, when you’re working on your toes, there are times when you’ll lean too far forward and maybe fall flat in your face. I can relate.

But simply as he mentioned he would, the Secretary and his staff, together with Deputy Secretary Sherman and all of my seventh flooring colleagues, have had my again each time that’s been the case. I’m immensely grateful to them for this opportunity, but additionally for the trust, the arrogance, the grace that they’ve demonstrated to me and to all of our colleagues who have accomplished our greatest to lean ahead every single day.

There’s a purpose I’m not going far after leaving this job. I deeply admire this institution. I deeply admire the individuals who make it tick. There’s no better mission, there’s no finer set of colleagues. I really imply that, and I’m truly grateful to all of them.

Finally, that brings me to all of you. I stated this to several of you last week in a really different setting, however I’m so appreciative of the relationships that we’ve developed. There’s all the time going to be, of course, an inherent rigidity between the particular person in my job and those of you in your jobs. If there weren’t, certainly one of us wouldn’t be doing our job.

Through all of it, though, we’ve never doubted each other’s intentions or our integrity, and we’ve acknowledged that we have in the end the identical goal: providing audiences all over the world with correct and timely data.

There can also be one thing very particular in regards to the State Department press corps: You care about these points. You all find out about these issues. Some of you realize far too much about these points. (Laughter.) But in the lengthy run, I wouldn’t want it some other way. Your questions are good ones, and you, in turn – you, and, in turn, the American people, deserve solutions to all of them. It’s all a part of making actual the concept of an knowledgeable citizenry, which is the bedrock of any democracy, including, of course, our personal.

Everyone who has sat in this room is dedicated to that. I mean, one of our colleagues practically paid for it along with his life when his automotive came beneath assault from Russian forces in Ukraine final year. I’m confident my successor may have the chance to welcome Ben Hall again to the briefing – a second we’ll all relish, irrespective of where we’re.

Let me conclude with this. As I was making ready to take on this job in late 2020, a predecessor of mine informed me the – it will be the best job I would ever have. To be sure, there were days after I doubted her; there have been days once I outright cursed her. But the longer arc and perspective of the previous two years has left me satisfied that she was proper. She was proper.

I’m grateful to everybody for this opportunity, to all of you on this room, to everyone on this constructing. I’m very deeply appreciative. Thank you.

Matt.

QUESTION: Okay. Well, thanks for that, and thank you to you. Who was that predecessor, by the way? (Laughter.)

MR PRICE: I will leave the harmless anonymous.

QUESTION: I mean, we all know that it’s a girl, right? So anyway, let me simply make – a pair things on timing here. It did not escape my discover that your departure coincides precisely with the start of the NCAA basketball match.

MR PRICE: Our –

QUESTION: And now that you’re going to be – sure, and our staff is, like –

MR PRICE: Our beloved Hoyas are – yes, sure.

QUESTION: Yeah, yeah, nowhere; not even within the NIT, I don’t think. But anyway, I hope you get pleasure from watching the following couple weeks in your free time.

MR PRICE: Thank you.

QUESTION: And then secondly, the opposite factor on timing is that it won’t – as everybody knows, the Academy Awards had been last night time. And I’m fairly assured that, if there have been a category for best State Department spokesman for 2022 – (laughter) – you’ll have been a shoo-in, or no much less than a relatively high competitor.

MR PRICE: (Laughter.) I respect that. I appreciate that.

QUESTION: But anyway, listen, we all – on behalf of everybody in here, we recognize your returning to the podium every day, and your willingness to interact even questions which may be irritating or uncomfortable for you, at length, and even though your responses could also be infuriating to us. So anyway, thank you.

MR PRICE: I appreciate that.

QUESTION: And good luck in your next project.

As the Secretary said on Thursday when he was here, one of his – nicely, one thing that he observed was our sparring on the JCPOA. So I figured I’d begin with Iran.

MR PRICE: Excellent.

QUESTION: Not – first the JCPOA. But you guys had some fairly harsh – not just you, but the NSC did, as properly – had some pretty harsh response to the Iranian international minister’s comments yesterday, that there was a minimal of an interim or an initial deal in place to – for a prisoner swap. You known as it a cruel lie. I’m wondering should you can increase on that at all. Why – is he just making this up out of skinny air?

MR PRICE: So Matt, thanks for that. First of all, it was a particularly harsh response, but deservedly so. We often deal with the lies that emanate from senior regime officers in Tehran; that’s nothing new. But we did call this one particularly merciless as a end result of there are lives, families, family members that grasp in the balance. This is concerning the destiny of three Americans who’ve been wrongfully detained happening years now. And the fact that the international minister would state something that was as unfaithful as this is only a sad reflection on the way the Iranian regime has engaged on this apply, a practice that ought to have been relegated to the dustbin of historical past many years in the past, a apply that shouldn’t be alive and well in the twenty first century.

What I can let you know is that we are working relentlessly to safe the discharge of these three Americans. We have made this – we made this an early priority of this administration. We conveyed in no unsure phrases to the Iranians that this is ready to be a priority of ours. We have been going to do every little thing we presumably might to secure their launch. The proven fact that these three Americans nonetheless languish behind bars, wrongfully detained, is, unfortunately, a mirrored image of the fact that the Iranians have thus far not been willing to budge.

But we’re going to keep at it. It just isn’t helpful for our efforts to safe the discharge of these Americans for us to element precisely and precisely what we’re doing, however it is one thing that we’re working on every, every single day.

QUESTION: Okay. Well, then, the concept that this money that’s being held or is frozen proper now in South Korea as a part of the deal, can you rule that out? Can you say that that’s not part of a possible agreement?

MR PRICE: I just can’t speak about our efforts to safe the discharge of these Americans. It is not helpful to their freedom.

QUESTION: All right. And then my last one is then if, as you say, the Iranians are that untrustworthy and so they lie all the time, as what you simply said, why on earth would you ever belief them to uphold a nuclear deal?

MR PRICE: Because, Matt, the nuclear deal – the JCPOA – and this goes again to the interval now; we’re not speaking about this —

QUESTION: I know. And —

MR PRICE: We’re not speaking about this in the current context, but the JCPOA was not built on belief. If it was an agreement that was built on trust, it wouldn’t have been worth the paper it was written on. The JCPOA was constructed on verification. It was constructed on monitoring. It was probably the most rigorous and stringent verification and monitoring protocol that was ever peacefully negotiated. And through the verification and monitoring protocols, the international weapons inspectors, the U.S. Intelligence Community, this building over the course of successive administrations have been in a position to decide that Iran was in fact abiding by the terms of the JCPOA. That was the case until mid-2018 when the final administration determined to desert the Iran deal, and Iran has since developed its nuclear program in methods which are totally inconsistent with the JCPOA, however more concerning to us, in methods which are harmful, in ways which are a menace to peace and stability, potentially, within the area and past.

QUESTION: Okay. And you proceed to imagine that regardless of all the lies, everything that they’re saying that you say is unfaithful and duplicitous, that a return to the JCPOA, if it have been attainable, is the greatest way to go?

MR PRICE: We’re not —

QUESTION: Is the best way to prevent Iran from creating a nuclear weapon despite all of your misgivings?

MR PRICE: A return to the JCPOA hasn’t been on the agenda for months now, Matt.

QUESTION: Well —

MR PRICE: And it —

QUESTION: It was, and also you just mentioned that they have repeatedly lied —

MR PRICE: And it —

QUESTION: — again and again and over.

MR PRICE: And it hasn’t been on the agenda for one main purpose, and that’s as a outcome of when it was on the agenda, there were concrete opportunities that the United States and our partners in the P5+1 had really at our fingertips to go back in to the JCPOA. We thought we have been on the precipice of it, only for the Iranians to as quickly as once more prove that their word was unreliable and to pull again what they’d agreed to.

So that’s not on the agenda. What is all the time going to be on our agenda as a first resort is diplomacy. We proceed to consider that diplomacy is the one everlasting, sturdy, verifiable means by which to handle Iran’s nuclear program. We’re not giving up our ambitions and our hope on that, even as we’re making ready for all potential contingencies.

Andrea.

QUESTION: I wish to just comply with up on a associated concern regarding China and Iran and the Saudis, but first I just need to say as a matter of private comment that after I first came right here as a really inexperienced correspondent, Tom Donilon was the spokesman after which Richard Boucher and then Nick Burns and a complete series of very credible folks – then extra recently Kirby and Psaki of course. But what you have carried out after an interregnum was to restore the credibility of a podium, the frequency of the briefings, the knowledge of the spokesperson what – by way of policy, which made all of the difference, and the willingness to grant access on the aircraft, on journey, as properly as in this room and outdoors of this room.

So we’re just very grateful, and I think it’s – it extends to the overseas press corps, lots of our colleagues who attend your other briefings, and just the importance that you just from the highest on down, but that you simply carried out – the 24/7 entry, and everyone knows what that means. So thank you.

MR PRICE: Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

QUESTION: I wish to ask you about China’s involvement in the Middle East and what which means. Does this actually sideline the United States to have China mediating between Iran and the Saudis? And additionally the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reporting from Friday that the Saudis are pressuring the U.S. – to have the ability to grant Israel diplomatic recognition, pressuring for some main concessions from the United States. If you could take each of these.

MR PRICE: Sure. So you’re asking in the first instance concerning the PRC’s position because of the announcement between Iran and Saudi Arabia in current days of the steps that those countries have pledged to take. First, I assume it’s worth noting that this has been a question that I have been requested over the previous couple years from this podium. And every time, starting in 2021 and 2022, that I was requested this query, I made a very simple point: We support dialogue, we help direct diplomacy, we support anything that might serve to de-escalate tensions within the region and probably assist to stop conflict. If that is the tip result of what was introduced in recent days, that would be a very good factor. This is one thing that has – this is a process that has unfolded over the course of some two years now. We have, as I said before, encouraged it. We have supported it. The substance of the joint statement that was issued late final week is type of similar to what has been discussed during previous rounds. This is a process that has gone by way of Oman. It has gone by way of Iraq. And we have been there supporting it in every – at each step of the greatest way.

We’ve been doing that as a end result of, again, something that may serve to de-escalate tensions and to stop battle is in our interest. It’s in the interest of the area. Any efforts that might assist to end the struggle on Yemen, additionally manifestly in our pursuits; of course within the pursuits of the international locations within the area as nicely. We imagine it’s lengthy overdue that Iran stop activities aimed toward destabilizing its neighbors. Should Iran, as an end result of this agreement, again, change its longstanding behavior and truly take steps to respect the sovereignty and noninterference within the inside affairs of its neighbors, that may be useful to the region; that would very a lot be in our curiosity.

When it involves our position in the region, Andrea, and let me handle your question, this was not in regards to the PRC. This was about what Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia committed to. When it involves our role within the area – and whether, as I’ve read, our function could also be being supplanted, some allege – I have a difficult time wrapping my head round our function could presumably be supplanted when no nation on Earth has carried out more to assist construct a extra secure, a extra built-in area.

This goes again to the primary days of this administration. I assume one of the massive – one of the first personnel bulletins we made was the appointment of a special envoy for Yemen. We had been determined within the earliest hours of this administration to do every thing we might to convey an finish to the violence in Yemen, to save lives, to inject humanitarian help. That’s exactly what we’ve helped to do over the course of those previous two years. We’ve supported our Gulf companions as they’ve enhanced their defensive capabilities; we’ve carried out that in very real and tangible methods – these same partners which have been topic to outrageous attacks, together with cross-border attacks from Yemen and from elsewhere as nicely.

Our engagement with the Gulf has led to more alternatives for people all through the area: Omani airspace, Saudi airspace, different tangible steps; the Negev course of that the United States has been deeply invested in, bringing together international ministers and senior leaders from countries all through the region with Israel as part of our staunch efforts to construct bridges across the region and beyond; I2U2, the partnership that we’ve conceived of together with our partners, to stitch together our own longstanding partnership with Israel, with India, and with the United Arab Emirates in a novel partnership that’s reflective of our broader efforts to stitch together our longstanding allies and companions into something that helps to serve the frequent good; and naturally our engagement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

I don’t assume there’s some other nation around the world who has worked more concertedly and intensively with Israelis, with Palestinians to, in the first occasion, de-escalate tensions, and to preserve the viability of a negotiated two-state resolution. You’ve seen us do this in particularly acute and even dangerous moments, as in mid-2021, in the conflict between Israel and Gaza then. You’ve seen us try this when tensions are at a heightened state in the West Bank; we’re in a type of durations now.

And you’ve seen our officers partaking directly on the ground. Secretary Blinken was in the area. Jake Sullivan was within the area. Secretary of Defense Austin was in the area simply final week, not to mention many different lower-level officials. And our humanitarian help – our humanitarian help to locations like Yemen, to the Palestinian individuals, a relationship that we made an early point of restoring with the Palestinian Authority and with the Palestinian folks.

So I assume in any way you take a glance at it, America is deeply engaged with the Middle East. We have, I think, demonstrated ends in those efforts to leave a region that is extra secure, is more integrated, is more affluent. We have an extended approach to go, but every little thing we’ve done over the previous couple years points to what we’re trying to attain.

QUESTION: And the opposite query was: Is the United States going to even consider nuclear – nuclear reactors or nuclear civilian reactors to the Saudis in exchange for them recognizing Israel?

MR PRICE: Let me simply say that after all we support normalization between Israel and its Muslim and Arab majority neighbors. And I use that term “neighbors” loosely as a result of we wish to broaden the aperture and look at alternatives for countries all over the world to normalize their relationship with Israel. Of course we help normalization between Israel and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This goes to have to be a course of that those two nations, within the first occasion, are engaged in, but we are going to do what we are ready to as a partner to both to assist that process. It’s one thing we’ve mentioned at great length, the potential for normalization, but as for the content material of these discussions, we’re going to depart that to what we’ve said behind closed doorways.

QUESTION: Would you rule out the nuclear piece?

MR PRICE: I’m simply not going to weigh in on a selected proposal.

Said.

QUESTION: Hi, Ned. Thank you. Of course I can be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge how you have engaged with me, and I thank you for that all all through. I appreciate it.

I needed to follow up on the Iran-Saudi deal, after which I want to ask any – a query on the Palestinian problem, if I might.

On the Iran-Saudi deal, do you are feeling that this deal can truly convey tensions down? Does it reduce the strain that was building up and the fear of some kind of a navy confrontation with Iran?

MR PRICE: If the deal is absolutely applied, in fact it has the potential to de-escalate tensions between these two somewhat giant nations within the Gulf. Of course it does. I assume you have to try where we have been just a couple years in the past and even in some methods just a couple months ago. Several years ago – 2019 I consider it was – the assault on the part of the Iranians to – towards Saudi Arabia, the potential for attacks that our Saudi partners have endured since then, including as just lately as late last year when the United States labored with our Saudi partners to reinforce defensive and deterrence capabilities that finally mitigated what was the true – very actual possibility of additional Iranian aggression towards Saudi Arabia.

So yes, each in the theoretical sense and in a really real and sensible sense, if Iran takes the steps that it has pledged to take, we imagine it will.

QUESTION: On the Palestinian-Israeli issue, and in my tradition of asking the straightforward question on this Palestinian concern: Today an Israeli courtroom added another one hundred eighty days to the Palestinian Ahmad Manasra, and of solitary confinement. He was in – he’s been in solitary for 480 days. I imagine the internationally sanctioned solitary confinement factor is like 15 days. He’s been in jail since he was 13 years old. He is 20 at present. He has psychological issues. He has bodily points. He’s isolated. He cannot get visitation and so on. I want your response to such a draconian measure.

MR PRICE: Said, I am not immediately familiar with the small print of the case, so I can’t supply an immediate reaction. But this is all half and parcel of what we now have sought to encourage on the part of each side. We’re at a really dangerous period. Tensions are running high. Israel obviously faces very real dangers to its security. We’ve seen – we’ve seen vivid demonstrations of that in latest days. We’ve inspired all parties to avoid steps that serve only to exacerbate tensions and lift the potential for even larger violence. This is a interval in latest months that has seen an unprecedented number of Palestinians killed. It has seen a lot of Israelis killed. We have been deeply engaged with Israelis, Palestinians, with our companions in the area, the Egyptians and the Jordanians, as part of that to do what we are in a position to to de-escalate tensions.

As it pertains to this case, if we’ve a particular remark, we’ll let you know.

QUESTION: But, Ned, I imply, we’re not asking Israel to cease imprisoning Palestinians or cease killing them. It could be nice if it did, but we’re not asking them that. We’re asking them to abide by international regulation once they imprison these boys – I imply, 13 years old and 14 years old – and keeping them beneath administrative confinement, which nobody else on the earth does apart from the state of Israel. What is your position on this? Is this a part of collective punishment? Do you contemplate that to be part of a collective punishment?

MR PRICE: Said, we’ve been very clear that collective punishment is never acceptable. I’m going to hesitate to place a label on this particular case or this explicit practice. But what we have sought across the board is for our Israeli partners, our Palestinian partners, to avoid the sort of steps that solely serve to exacerbate tensions. We want the opposite. We need the alternative especially now, and especially as we’re getting into a period where the three nice faiths that in some ways have their roots in this very area will coincide within the coming weeks.

So we’re deeply engaged and we’ll continue to use our voice and to meet with and to do what we can to see to it that the violence – the cycle of violence – comes to an finish.

Yeah, Humeyra.

QUESTION: Can I just do a follow-up on Andrea’s question and attempt to get you to talk a little bit about these conversations with Saudis on normalizing relations with Israel? Is it the us evaluation that after this Iran-Saudi growth, it might be extra sophisticated at least? Like, whenever you have been in discussions along with your Saudi partners, what are – what did they are saying on the prospects of normalization? That’s a – that’s very broad.

MR PRICE: So first, the potential implications of what we noticed late final week on Israel, on normalization, on Israel’s security – this is – this is about an agreement that was reached between Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, so after all this is going to be about these two international locations. There is not any greater supporter of Israel’s safety than President Biden. As you’ve heard him say persistently, our dedication to Israel’s safety is ironclad. We are going to continue to do every little thing we can’t solely to make good on that dedication to Israel’s security however, the place we will, to assist increase the bridges which have been built lately.

And I suppose you take a glance at the engagement that we’ve undertaken within the region, including when President Biden traveled to the region, to Israel and to the Gulf final summer season, you see the very tangible outcomes of that. Saudi airspace that for the primary time has been opened up, again, creating opportunities for Israelis, creating alternatives for individuals throughout the area. You see that in phrases of what we’ve been able to achieve with the help of lots of our partners all over the world, together with the UN, on Yemen. A extra integrated, a extra steady region is sweet for our interests, it is good for Israel, and it is good for individuals across the area.

QUESTION: You actually repeated what you answered to Andrea. But did the – I’m mainly wondering in what —

QUESTION: (Off-mike.) (Laughter.)

QUESTION: I mean, we can’t count on the rest on your last day (inaudible). (Laughter.)
[newline]What was the – I imply, what did the Saudis say? And then I’m going to repeat myself: What did the Saudis say on their normalization prospect, or what’s your assessment whether or not you think it’s going to be extra complicated, or is this going to by some means assist at all?

MR PRICE: This ultimately is a query for Israel and Saudi Arabia. It is a course of that we support. It’s a course of that we’ve supported. It’s a process we’ve discussed with both of our companions. But it is a question for Israel and Saudi Arabia.

As for the contents of our discussions, just as a common rule, you realize that we don’t learn out private diplomatic conversations. But we’ve remained engaged on this and we’re going to do every thing we can to be a supportive companion to each nations.

QUESTION: And one final thing. When the Saudis have been informing you of the – of what was occurring, were you in turn informing Israelis? Like, have been you keeping them within the loop each day or frequently?

MR PRICE: We have close relationships with both countries. We consult frequently. As we’ve mentioned earlier than, we were not taken by surprise by the announcement that got here out on Friday. Our Saudi partners had kept us up to date. We interact regularly with our Israeli companions. Secretary Austin was there simply last week, and there are many ranges at which these conversations occur.

QUESTION: And I take it the Chinese weren’t in touch?

MR PRICE: I’m not aware that we heard from the PRC on this.

Courtney.

QUESTION: On that note actually, the newly named Chinese Minister of Defense General Li Shangfu has been topic to CAATSA sanctions since 2018. Those embrace visa restrictions. So what is the administration’s plan to probably ameliorate a few of that – the challenges that might pose to Secretary Austin having the ability to meet together with his counterpart?

MR PRICE: Well, Secretary Austin now has on a few events tried to succeed in out to his counterpart. Unfortunately, it has been the PRC that has failed to reciprocate. Each time we’ve made the point that we consider as a accountable nation that it’s in our interests, it’s in the pursuits of the PRC, it’s in the curiosity of nations all over the world, for us to keep up open dialogue – a number of, even redundant channels of dialogue – as we try and perform what is our most necessary and pressing task: to determine a floor on the relationship and to determine those guardrails to see to it that the aggressive aspects of the connection between us can’t veer into conflict. That’s why Secretary Blinken has picked up the cellphone and been in contact with Wang Yi. That’s why he met Wang Yi in Munich. That’s why we’re regularly in contact with the PRC embassy in this nation and vice versa from Beijing. When it comes to Secretary Austin, you saw the readout that the Defense Department put out several weeks in the past now making clear that the PRC refused to have interaction.

When it involves this individual, as I understand it, it is a largely ceremonial function. It’s a different one than the function that Secretary Austin has in our system. But we’re ready to interact when it’s in our interest to do so. We’ve made that clear from the very begin. Many of you recall the first international journey that we took, took us to Japan, took us to South Korea. On the way back we stopped in Anchorage with Secretary Blinken and Jake Sullivan to have interaction very early on with our PRC counterparts. There have been in-person conferences since, there have been phone calls since, there have been video teleconferences ever since, precisely as a end result of we do believe what we are saying about establishing these communications channels as a half of an effort to forestall that conflict – that competition from veering into battle.

Alex.

QUESTION: Thank you, Ned. Well, as one of many beneficiaries of these daily briefings, not solely on behalf of colleagues, also on behalf of my audience, so I just – everything has been mentioned. After 200 and plus briefings, I even have two extra questions to ask. So on – all on Iran. So let me throw all of them at you so you can perhaps take a note on that.

One is Russia is sending apparently captured U.S. weapons to Iran. There’s a report about that. What is your level of concern on that?

And another one, we heard – we’ve seen videos of President Lukashenka meeting with Iranian president today, and one of many matters that they have been discussing was apparently primary coordination on how to evade sanctions. Iran wants to share its experience on that. I simply wish to get a reaction to that.

And lastly, there might be an increasing tension between Azerbaijan and Iran after Iran last weekend tried to principally affect flights – jet, fighter jet, on the border, and just – may I get a response to that, as well? Thank you a lot.

MR PRICE: So first, on Lukashenka’s visit to Iran, we see this as, in some methods, an extension of the deepening relationship between Iran and Russia. We’ve been – had no shortage over the previous 12 months of sharing our concern of the deepening relationship between Iran and Russia. We’ve talked about it in terms of the security help that these – that Iran is providing Russia, and vice versa, and we’ve additionally made the purpose that, in what Lukashenka has provided to Russia, he has primarily ceded his sovereignty to the Kremlin, to Russia.

And so now, with Lukashenka in Iran, in some ways you can see that as an extension of the deepening partnership between Iran and Russia. But it’s something we’re watching very intently. These are two birds of a feather, and oftentimes they do flock together.

When it comes to the Iranian weapons – or, excuse me, the weapons that have reportedly been captured, I’ve seen these reports. I’m not able to confirm these stories. As you know, we have a robust monitoring plan in place that takes a take a glance at any potential cases of diversion. We are still where we have been for – because the start of this conflict. We haven’t seen any credible indications that safety assistance that we’ve supplied to our Ukrainian companions have been diverted to another actor, however we’re watching this very intently.

And on Azerbaijan, and Iran, of course Iran is a – has lengthy been a malign actor within the region. It’s engaged in malign activities, actions that threaten its neighbors each near and much. So we watch most of these tensions with concern. Our approach has been to invest in our engagement with Azerbaijan, with Armenia in the South Caucasus to, as we were saying in a very completely different context a moment ago, to create a South Caucasus region that is more stable, that is less prone to conflict, that’s much less susceptible to pressure.

Janne.

QUESTION: Thank you. Thank you, Ned. Thanks for the wonderful briefing throughout your final hour, and thanks for sharing your information with us. Good luck.

MR PRICE: Thank you.

QUESTION: Yeah. My query on the North Korea. North Korea launched strategic cruise missiles from a submarine last Sunday. What kind of diplomatic motion is the United States currently taking in response to North Korea’s high-intensity provocations?

MR PRICE: So, Janne, we’re conscious of the DPRK’s submarine launch cruise missile check. As we’ve stated within the context of similar actions, these only serve to intensify tensions within the region. The DPRK’s unannounced cruise missile tests are yet another example of DPRK actions that threaten regional peace and stability. They additionally current an unacceptable security danger to civil aviation and to maritime operations, as nicely.

We remain focused on shut coordination with our allies and partners to handle the multitude of threats that’s posed by the DPRK, and to advance the shared goal that we put forward within the early months of this administration, namely the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

We have had a chance in current weeks to have interaction in depth with our Japanese allies, with our ROK allies. We’ve had the very joyful alternative to welcome deepened cooperation between those two allies, and to make the purpose that we’re going to continue to engage bilaterally, but in addition trilaterally, figuring out that the trilateral relationship between the United States, between the ROK, between Japan is critical to our shared efforts. Because we share, along with the ROK and Japan, a vision of an Indo-Pacific that is free and open. That’s going to be the crux of what you hear at present from President Biden when he travels to San Diego and he meets with one other one of our partners within the Indo-Pacific.

But Japan, and the ROK, the United States, others, we share this imaginative and prescient. The DPRK has consistently posed a challenge to the rules-based order and to the vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific. As we continue to see these provocations, we’re going to work with our companions within the Indo-Pacific, we’re going to work with our companions on the other side of the Atlantic to carry the DPRK accountable.

We are going to take a look at extra methods to do that. Just inside latest days you’ve heard from us on some of the steps that we have taken to clamp down on sanctions evasion and to pursue targets that support the DPRK’s WMD programs.

We are also going to proceed to make the point, and to find methods to reinforce the purpose, that it requires concerted motion on the a part of – particularly on the a part of all members of the UN Security Council, especially permanent members of the UN Security Council. The DPRK is subject to a variety of UN Security Council resolutions owing to the provocations that it has engaged in lately. Each and each considered one of these UN Security Council resolutions were voted on and permitted by the permanent 5 members of the Security Council. It is incumbent on all 5 of these members – including Russia and the PRC – to uphold the commitments that they’ve made, to uphold the commitments which were signed into worldwide regulation, and to acknowledge that a DPRK that’s not held to account, that is able to have interaction in these sort of provocations with out concerted accountability from the worldwide group, isn’t in the interest of Russia, it’s not in the interest of China, it’s not within the curiosity of any nation all over the world.

And so our task is to proceed to work with our partners and allies to carry the DPRK accountable whereas we’re recommitting to the commitment we now have to the safety and to the defense of our treaty allies on this case.

QUESTION: Do you suppose North Korea will conduct one other nuclear test throughout the united states and ROK’s joint military exercise now ongoing (inaudible)?

MR PRICE: I would hesitate to offer a prediction, but we’ve mentioned for numerous months now that the DPRK has finalized all of the steps it will must take to conduct what would be its seventh nuclear test. A seventh nuclear check can be a dangerous provocation that may itself constitute a major threat to peace and safety in the area. The whole world would need to respond in a case like that. Countries on the Security Council, especially the everlasting five, we might count on to see – hope to see, I should say – concerted action in response to such a destabilizing event.

Leon.

QUESTION: Yeah. Question on Russia. But earlier than I ask you that question, just a follow-up on North Korea. Is it helpful in the context that you point out, that everyone knows, these escalating tensions, to have these, an important maneuvers in 5 years with South Korea, army maneuvers between Washington and United States and South Korea? I imply, how useful is that in the context to try to de-escalate the situation?

MR PRICE: So Leon, a pair points. We’ve made abundantly clear early on in this administration – and I’ve repeated it too many occasions to count since – that we harbor no hostile intent in direction of the DPRK. We believe that dialogue and diplomacy can be essentially the most – would represent the most effective means by which to advance in sensible methods our coverage objective of the whole denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. We’ve made clear that we harbor no hostile intent, we’ve made clear that we’re prepared to engage in dialogue and diplomacy. It’s the DPRK that has persistently rebuffed that, both by its silence, its failure to respond meaningfully to these overtures, but additionally by taking the actions that it has taken, including the provocations the likes of which we’re speaking about now.

Look, the workouts that you’re referring to are longstanding, they’re routine, they’re purely defensive in nature. They help the safety of both the United States and, on this case, the ROK. And unfortunately, the DPRK has put us ready to have to strengthen in tangible methods the safety dedication that we have. They have made the safety setting in Northeast Asia and the broader Indo-Pacific area all of the more harmful, all of the extra threatening to our deployed troops, to Americans in the area, and of course to our treaty allies, the – Japan and ROK.

So it’s because of that safety setting that we’re – because of that, we are continually ready to have to reaffirm that safety dedication to make certain that we’re able to make good on that dedication. We would much somewhat be engaging in dialogue and diplomacy, and advancing in actual ways the whole denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

QUESTION: Thanks for that. Question on – related to news of at present on the Black Sea Initiative. The Russians have agreed to – if I understand it accurately, the Russians have agreed to a 60-day extension. On the desk, I think, unless I’m mistaken, it was one hundred twenty days. What are your ideas on that? Would you accept a 60-day extension, or are you – or not?

MR PRICE: So first, let me just say we’re at a critical moment in these negotiations. Extending the Black Sea Grain Initiative requires the consent of all of the events, and that’s one thing the UN secretary general is working on, including at this very moment. So we’re going to defer to the UN secretary general, we’re going to defer to the other events which would possibly be immediately concerned within the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

And I must be circumspect in regards to the particulars past that, as a result of it is a crucial moment. But our position has always been clear: The world wants this. The world wants the Black Sea Grain Initiative. We believe it ought to be prolonged. We believe it should be expanded. And we consider that as a outcome of we’ve seen the implications of a world with the Black Sea Grain Initiative, and we’ve seen a world with out the Black Sea Grain Initiative. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of last 12 months, we saw this worth in – this spike in world food prices. World meals prices spiked almost 30 p.c. Wheat and fertilizer prices spiked practically 30 p.c in the instant aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion. It wasn’t until the Black Sea Grain Initiative was put into place with a substantial quantity of diplomatic support from the United States and naturally the parties themselves – the UN secretary-general, Türkiye, Ukraine, and also with the cooperation of Russia – that these crises began to actually go down.

And we’ve seen millions of metric tons make it to the nations that want food essentially the most. Over four million metric tons of wheat have gone on to creating international locations because of the Black Sea Grain Initiative that won’t – which will look like an abstract quantity, but it boils down to 8 billion loaves of bread to the growing world. The World Food Program has been able to reap the advantages of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. 16 World Food Program ships have left Ukrainian ports on account of this initiative, taking wheat to places like Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia – the locations around the globe that want it most. So this may be a critical instrument at a important time. We know that the world needs this. We actually hope and expect to see it prolonged and expanded.

QUESTION: But you don’t want to say 60 or 120? You’re not going to —

MR PRICE: We’re going to let the events themselves communicate to it before we do.

Yeah, Edward.

QUESTION: Hey, Ned. I’d prefer to ask you a couple of report that the Times had final week on the Biden administration up to now refraining from turning over proof of Russian war crimes to the International Criminal Court. And apparently the principle reason this is – that they’ve avoided doing so is because the Pentagon objects to that action, saying that which may open the way in which in the future for easier prosecutions of U.S. troops. Can you address that and speak about the rationale behind this? And related to that, in your 200-plus briefings at the podium, one phrase you’ve talked about repeatedly is “the rules-based international order,” and you say the united states defends this order. Can you give us a more exact definition of that and when the U.S. decides to choose into these worldwide establishments and norms and when it decides to choose out of those?

MR PRICE: So a couple issues, Edward. First, on your first question in regards to the ICC, this goes again to some extent I was making in response to a very totally different area, to a very different query about our inheritance once we got here into workplace in January of 2021.

Over the past two years, we’ve worked very hard to reset and to improve our relationship with the International Criminal Court. In the primary instance, we lifted the sanctions that never ought to have been imposed within the first place. We returned to engagement with the court and the Assembly of States Parties. We have identified specific areas the place we are ready to assist ICC investigations and prosecutions, together with steps to support the court’s work in Darfur and assistance in locating and apprehending fugitives from worldwide justice, and that includes high-profile fugitives like the LRA’s Joseph Kony. We additionally supply rewards for data leading to the arrest, the switch, the conviction of international nationals accused of committing struggle crimes and crimes towards humanity or genocide earlier than the ICC. So we do provide many forms of support.

What we don’t do, nonetheless, is element in a specific – in particular types what that assist seems like or what we could also be providing on to the ICC. And we don’t try this for a quite simple reason: that is a world court docket that is pursuing accountability, it’s pursuing justice. We don’t wish to do something or to say anything that would jeopardize the sanctity of an investigation, that could set back the pursuit of that justice.

I’d make one other level on this, Edward, that your paper reported on one type of help that we’re allegedly not offering, but you’ve heard us over the course of the past year communicate to the efforts we’re resorting to all over the world to empower a variety of organizations to collect, to preserve, to research, to disseminate precisely the kinds of knowledge that might be court docket admissible, that worldwide tribunals – whether it’s the ICC, whether it’s the UN’s Commission of Inquiry, whether it’s the OSCE’s Moscow Mechanism – might in fact use to pursue and to advance cases that would culminate in accountability and justice for people who are answerable for some of the most heinous warfare crimes and crimes towards humanity that we’ve seen in Ukraine.

The advantage of this sort of help is we’re empowering organizations to collect open-source info, information that is available to everyone but that in flip these organizations package deal in such a method that they’re comprehensive, they’re carried out in a rigorous way, and they’re court admissible.

So past the classes of help that I just listed, we are enabling numerous actors all over the world to do what they will to help the ICC, to assist different venues together with courts of nationwide jurisdiction in locations like Ukraine and different countries around the world that have universal jurisdiction where warfare criminals – or accused struggle criminals, I should say, could be tried.

On the second a part of your query, Ed, this isn’t a rules-based order that the United States created. It just isn’t – created alone. It isn’t a rules-based order that is a product of the West. This is a rules-based order, after we discuss that rules-based order, that emanated from the ashes of the Second World War that was created in the aftermath of that to see to it – at least in each reasonable means – that the Second World War wouldn’t at some point give rise to a 3rd. It is enshrined in so much of what the United States is committed to and where you see us engaging every single day. The UN system, the UN Charter, worldwide regulation, the UN Declaration of Human Rights, whether or not it’s the Ukraine context, whether or not it’s another context – just about every single day you hear us speaking to the significance of those parts. You’re seeing us taking actions all over the world to protect, to advertise, to defend these components. And the place nations around the world are flouting the rules-based order, you see the United States oftentimes leading the cost for accountability. That takes us again to your first query.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Can I simply – I’ve received only a quick one.

MR PRICE: Sure.

QUESTION: I imply, as I perceive it, the answer you simply gave now in response to the primary question is that nothing has modified because you answered the query on Thursday.

MR PRICE: That is correct.

QUESTION: Okay. So you’re saying – however then the second thing is that you just introduced this up in speaking concerning the LRA and the way you cooperate with it. But in that case, with the Obama administration, they really did provide specific intel to the ICC.

MR PRICE: But Matt —

QUESTION: And the Pentagon or whoever, if they’d a difficulty with it, it didn’t appear to cease it. So what’s the distinction here? Because the LRA didn’t – don’t have nukes?

MR PRICE: No. So, Matt, I’m not saying that there’s a difference as a outcome of we’re simply not talking to the forms of assist we provide to the ICC. It —

QUESTION: Well, but okay. But the administration that you just previously served in did speak to that.

MR PRICE: But the administration did not speak particularly to types of support that we provided to the ICC.

QUESTION: No, however you gave them a satellite tv for pc photo and (inaudible).

MR PRICE: And we’re – we’re taking exactly the same method on this administration on this case. Yes.

QUESTION: So you’re simply not telling the Pentagon? You’re doing it over their objections and not telling them? Is that it?

MR PRICE: No, no, no, Matt. I’m talking about what we talk about publicly. In the Obama-Biden administration, we didn’t detail specifically the kind of support and assistance that we provided to the ICC. In –

QUESTION: Well, then I’m simply saying you’re not going to do it at all because —

MR PRICE: No. I simply –

QUESTION: Well, it’s the story –

QUESTION: The Times report says they’ll chorus –

MR PRICE: And I – and I am –

QUESTION: The Times report that you just talked about on Thursday —

MR PRICE: Yes.

QUESTION: – and gave the precise same reply to, you didn’t say that it was incorrect. In truth, you’ve now stated that it was correct.

MR PRICE: I’m just —

QUESTION: And now we’re —

MR PRICE: I didn’t touch upon the veracity of the report. I’m not talking to the veracity of the report. What I’m saying as a common matter, whether or not it was in the last administration, the administration earlier than that, we don’t converse in particular phrases to the kind of support that we do or don’t present to the ICC.

QUESTION: Well, the final administration truly spoke. But the purpose of —

MR PRICE: I stand corrected there, sure.

Yes, go ahead.

QUESTION: Thanks, Ned. Jackson Richman with The Epoch Times. I actually have two questions. The first one is: Based on stories from the field, the battle in Ukraine reveals no signs of ending any time quickly. Meanwhile, public support for continued U.S. help for Kyiv seems to be waning. In gentle of these realities, is the State Department prepared to rethink its policy of backing Ukraine, quote/unquote, “for as long as it takes”?

And then my second question is: Two huge name banks in the united states, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature, have been shut down by the Feds. This has ramifications not simply in the united states but additionally overseas. How do these shutdowns reflect the United States on the global stage?

MR PRICE: So a pair issues. First, let me simply take the second query first. I’m going to let my colleagues at the Treasury Department, the FDIC, and other colleagues deal with these questions. I don’t wish to say something from here that could roil financial markets, definitely not on my final day. (Laughter.)

Your first question – your first question about standing with Ukraine. We are committed to standing with Ukraine for as lengthy as it takes. We are dedicated to our Ukrainian companions. But ultimately, what we are dedicated to is, to go back to Edward’s question, the rules-based order. What is at play in relation to Russian aggression towards Ukraine is yes, about Ukraine in the first occasion, Russia attempting to deny Ukraine the proper to exist, to dictate Ukraine’s foreign coverage, the choices that must be and must solely be up – only to Ukrainians.

But in some ways that is a lot larger than Ukraine or any single country. It is in regards to the basic notions that are at the coronary heart of the UN Charter, which are at the heart of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, on the heart of international legislation. And they mainly boil all the method down to, whether you name it the rules-based order or the principles of the road, but quite simple premises: huge countries can’t bully small international locations; may doesn’t make proper; nations have a sovereign proper to find out their very own future, their very own partnerships, their very own alliances, their very own aspirations.

If Russia is permitted to challenge that in an unchecked way in Ukraine, international locations all over the world could properly take license to problem that in different regions. When the rules-based worldwide order comes under menace anywhere, we consider it comes underneath risk all over the place. And so it’s essential for the United States to be resolute, along with the handfuls of nations all over the world who haven’t only stood with Ukraine but endorsed the UN system, the UN Charter, international legislation, the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

More than a hundred and forty countries all over the world have done that thrice now. And that’s as a end result of this is not a Western assemble, it isn’t an American assemble; that is an order that international locations around the globe believe in. It is an order that nations around the world have witnessed undergird unprecedented levels of stability, of security, of prosperity since – over the eighty years or so since the end of the Second World War.

QUESTION: Then why not ship Ukraine fighter jets and enact most sanctions in opposition to Russia just like the united states most stress marketing campaign on Iran?

QUESTION: Well, I think you have a glance at the sanctions that we’ve enacted against Russia, and what you see is a complete sanctions regime that is – that has within the first instance crippled the Russian economic system. It has brought on the Kremlin to have to resort to extraordinary measures to prop up Moscow’s economy, to prop up the forex, to prop up financial markets in a way that’s just not sustainable over the long term. And you take a glance at the broader set of measures, the export controls that we’ve put in place that have systematically disadvantaged Russia of the ability to import the uncooked materials that it will want over the long term to project aggression towards Ukraine or some other nation for that matter. And so however you take a look at it – whatever financial, monetary metric you have a glance at, you see that the sanctions the United States and our dozens of partners around the world have carried out have had large impact.

On the query of the F-16, what we’ve done is to provide our Ukrainian partners with what they want for the battle they’re facing at the moment and the path in which that battle is evolving. And you don’t need to take our word for the effectiveness of that strategy. You can look at the willpower, the resilience, the grit of our Ukrainian partners however additionally the success that that has translated to, and that in some ways has been enabled by the large quantities of security help that the United States and a few 50 international locations around the world have offered. These are decisions that we make on a dynamic foundation, taking a look at exactly what the wants are in conversation with our Ukrainian partners, in dialog with our companions in Europe, in NATO, and around the world as nicely.

Yes.

QUESTION: Thank you. Ned, over the weekend, CENTCOM Commander General Kurilla was in Syria, and he visited two camps – two ISIS detainee camps. He mentioned there isn’t a army solution to the ISIS detainee population. There are 1000’s of detainees, and together with new generations are being raised in these camps. What is the department doing to find a way to empty these camps?

MR PRICE: We are targeted with nations around the world on what will be the sustainable resolution, and that’s repatriation. We have applauded a selection of international locations, including in recent days, who’ve been capable of repatriate their citizens from al-Hawl, from different detainee camps. We imagine that’s the one means by which to deal with this challenge. Our Bureau of Counterterrorism has been going around the world, as have our regional bureaus, to make specific, basic asks of nations as nicely to do every thing we will to lesson the detainee population and to do what we can to responsibly shut these detention facilities.

QUESTION: Most of nations try to appear detached to their citizen in those camps. Isn’t there a priority that these people are additional radicalized in those camps and converts the us mission in Syria right into a creep mission?

MR PRICE: Into a what mission? I’m sorry.

QUESTION: Into a mission creep, like a —

MR PRICE: A mission creep. Well, there are a variety of reasons why we wish to sustainably lesson the inhabitants at these camps. Some of it has to do with humanitarian situations. Some of it has to do with the power for individuals to be radicalized in a place like this. But it just speaks to the urgent need that we see for international locations around the globe to take decisive and bold steps to repatriate their citizens. We have tried to guide by instance. There are a variety of countries all over the world who’ve also sought to lead by instance, and we’re encouraging extra of that.

Camilla.

QUESTION: Thank you, Ned, and congratulations on your last briefing.

MR PRICE: Thank you.

QUESTION: I for one appreciated your gratitude for this press corps. I imagine it was the earlier Secretary who described us as hyenas, so I’m not going to ask you what group of animals this State Department —

MR PRICE: I respect that.

QUESTION: — might examine us to – (laughter) – but thanks.

QUESTION: Jackals.

MR PRICE: Not lapdogs; I will tell you that.

QUESTION: But I would be remiss to not ask you one of your favorite matters: On Afghanistan. Representative Michael McCaul informed CBS on Sunday that he’s given the Secretary until March 23rd handy over what he describes as outstanding documentation regarding the administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. That features a dissent cable, Ambassador Dan Smith’s after-action report, and the Kabul Embassy emergency action plan. I was just wondering should you had a response to what he mentioned.

MR PRICE: Sure. Look, we are dedicated to working with all congressional committees with jurisdiction to appropriately accommodate their want for information to help them conduct their oversight for legislative functions. We had a very productive, very constructive relationship with the 117th Congress. We hope and count on to have a really related relationship with this Congress. We have provided more than a hundred and fifty briefings to bipartisan members and employees on Afghanistan policy since the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan. Additionally, senior officials from this department have appeared in public hearings and answered questions on Afghanistan, and the division has responded to numerous requests for info from members and their staffs associated to Afghanistan coverage.

As Chairman McCaul said, I consider, in your community yesterday, he and the Secretary had a very constructive discussion when the chairman was right here on the division earlier this 12 months. It was then that the Secretary reaffirmed directly to Chairman McCaul his dedication to cooperate with the committee’s work, and we’ve since provided tons of of pages of paperwork aware of the chairman’s requests on Afghanistan. We’re working as expeditiously as attainable to accommodate what was just about by any measure an in depth and detailed request, and our provision of data and documents to the committee will continue as we collect and course of additional responsive information.

Yeah, Jenny.

QUESTION: Thanks, Ned. I need to echo everyone else’s thanks for all of your work.

There are reports that three American ladies went missing in Nuevo León, Mexico a quantity of weeks in the past. Does the State Department have any data on this?

MR PRICE: I’ve seen those reviews, however we’re not able to verify them, and in reality, we aren’t aware that these reviews are correct. We are conscious of three Mexican nationals who resided in Texas who’ve been reported missing, however.

QUESTION: Can I observe up on that?

QUESTION: Senator Markey is calling for a higher Travel Warning against journey to Mexico?

MR PRICE: Our Travel Warnings to Mexico, as they’re to countries around the world, are dynamic. They are primarily based on the situations on the ground. When it comes to Mexico, our Travel Warnings are particularly dynamic in that they’re organized by state, and so the journey guidance that we offer to American citizens is tailor-made to every particular person Mexican state and the security scenario that we assess on the ground at any given time.

QUESTION: Are you contemplating upgrading?

MR PRICE: We are at all times looking at data to determine whether or not it’s essential to move our Travel Warnings in one course or one other. These —

QUESTION: In this case, are you considering a higher level of warning?

MR PRICE: Again, our —

QUESTION: I mean the – I mean just because of the latest kidnappings.

MR PRICE: The – our Travel Warnings for Mexico, again, are organized by state, and so we’re looking at circumstances state by state to discover out if an improve, if a downgrade is critical. That is a course of that happens every single day between our embassies; between, in this case, our Western Hemisphere Affairs Bureau, our Bureau of Consular Affairs. As quickly as we have made the choice that a change in our Travel Advisory is warranted, it is going to be up to date on-line and we’ll alert the American citizen group.

QUESTION: Ned, just in response to your – so that you assume that this report, the report that there – another three American girls may be confused or may be inaccurate as a outcome of they’re truly Mexican citizens?

MR PRICE: I couldn’t say. I —

QUESTION: Would they’ve had – do you know if the three Mexicans who – Mexican ladies who you imagine have been reported lacking had U.S. residency or —

MR PRICE: Matt, I couldn’t say, and I wouldn’t wish to converse to the details, but we are conscious of reviews of three missing Mexican citizens who beforehand resided in Nuevo León.

QUESTION: Where are the – so they resided, they lived in Texas?

MR PRICE: That’s proper.

QUESTION: Yes?

MR PRICE: Correct, sure.

QUESTION: Was State under the impression that they were Americans? Because over the weekend we received a response that you just have been aware of three U.S. citizen – reviews of three U.S. citizens lacking in Mexico.

MR PRICE: We’ll verify on that, but we’ll get back to you if I even have the rest to offer.

Nick.

QUESTION: I clearly haven’t been here all the time, however we’ve all the time been watching, so thank you for bringing back the every day briefing.

Questions about AUKUS. I know that you won’t get ahead of the President, but a few questions I suppose you presumably can reply. First one: Xi Jinping final week accused the united states of containing – making an attempt to include China. How is sending American submarines and serving to Australia build Virginia-class submarines not an instance of the united states containing China?

MR PRICE: So first, Nick, I don’t want to get ahead of the President, and he’ll be talking to this later today, I consider within the 5 o’clock hour Eastern time, so I will refer you to his remarks on AUKUS particularly.

On the broader query, nevertheless – and that is one thing we talked about last week – our objective is not to include China. It just isn’t the case that we or another country could even if we wished to, and again, that isn’t our goal. Our aim is not to hold China again. Our goal is to uphold the rules-based order that applies equally within the Indo-Pacific as it does in Europe and locations in between. Our concern is that contrary to our objective of preserving, defending, selling the rules-based order, we have seen the PRC try and challenge it, to challenge it in numerous essential and in some ways destabilizing and dangerous methods.

We share the vision – the vision we share with our companions in the Indo-Pacific, and it’s actually the imaginative and prescient we share with our Australian allies, on this case, is considered one of a area that’s free and open. That is what our work collectively in the Indo-Pacific is about. Every time we see the PRC try and challenge the rules-based worldwide order, try to challenge the status quo in varied places, that is of concern to us. It’s of concern to international locations all over the world.

QUESTION: I’m making an attempt to remain broad, however I do have to ask one question about AUKUS. There’s been bipartisan questions, as you know, in regards to the submarine industrial base, the U.S.’s ability to actually build their very own submarines, let alone lend them or rotate them or promote them to Australia, and some people who find themselves in favor of AUKUS are apprehensive about this. Is it the administration’s perception that Australia’s first nuclear-powered submarine in some methods supplies more deterrence to China than the U.S.’s twenty second Virginia powered submarine, and is that part of the effort behind AUKUS, the general complication of China’s efforts when it looks at the military throughout the Pacific?

MR PRICE: Our colleagues from the Defense Department supplied some words on this final week. I suspect you’ll hear extra about this later at present. But let me simply make the broader level that this is about a imaginative and prescient of the Indo-Pacific that is free and open. It is a vision that we share with our Australian companions in this case, however it’s a vision that we share with our other allies and companions within the Indo-Pacific.

AUKUS itself can additionally be a mirrored image of what we’ve sought to do around the world, not only to revitalize the alliances and the partnerships that have been in many circumstances deeply frayed or atrophied when we assumed workplace in January of 2021, but to take these longstanding partnerships and alliances and to stitch them collectively – to stitch them together inside theaters, in some cases to sew them collectively throughout the globe, bringing our Australian allies along with our British allies in this case.

We’re doing that as a end result of we share, again, these widespread interests, frequent values, within the Indo-Pacific. It’s a imaginative and prescient of the Indo-Pacific that is free and open and that in too many locations is coming under challenge.

QUESTION: And when it comes to – sorry, simply the last one, on coming underneath problem. Has the united states accomplished enough not only to discourage China with militarily but also with investments and political participation, especially within the Pacific Islands? Some folks nonetheless criticize you for not having sufficient of a solution, for example – Chinese investment, Chinese 5G, and only threatening folks when they contemplate partnering with China.

MR PRICE: Nick, look, I can’t communicate to the strategy of previous administrations. I wouldn’t wish to speak to the method of previous administrations, I would say. But you’ve heard constantly from us this isn’t about forcing nations to choose between the United States and China, the United States and any other country. This is about providing international locations around the globe with decisions – affirmative choices, desirable selections, choices that may allow the United States and countries within the Indo-Pacific, on this case, to pursue our collective pursuits.

We talked about the funding and the infrastructure component a bit through the finances rollout late last week. But the point I made then is that we are not in search of to match the PRC dollar for dollar in the quantities that they provide to let’s call them infrastructure projects all over the world. In some ways we couldn’t do that, provided that they have a state-run economy and a command-style economy that we don’t, clearly.

But what we deliver to bear is a whole-of-society approach, an approach that not solely harnesses what the federal government does, and clearly the budget request the President despatched ahead on Thursday to Congress has an amazing amount of assets that would permit us to compete and ultimately to outcompete with the PRC in the Indo-Pacific. But we’ve an American personal sector. We have ingenuity within the American folks. We have a system of alliances and partnerships that is unmatched by some other nation.

And whenever you convey all of those to bear, we consider that the United States, and performing along with our allies and companions, current that affirmative, fascinating choice that so many nations around the world need and seek. One tangible illustration of that is the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment. Again, this isn’t about matching the PRC’s spending greenback for dollar from the federal budget, however that is bringing to bear funding from our respective governments, the governments with whom we associate on PGII, but in addition the private sector to mobilize over the course of 5 years hundreds of billions of dollars for high-quality, transparent, eco-friendly infrastructure projects the likes of which no other nation might provide and the likes of which might be a troublesome proposition to show down for any country in that region or elsewhere.

I’ll take a ultimate question or so. Abbie, go forward.

QUESTION: Yes, thank you.

MR PRICE: Abbie, go ahead and I’ll come again to you. Yeah.

QUESTION: Thanks so much, and I want to echo, obviously, the thanks of my colleagues —

MR PRICE: Thanks.

QUESTION: — for bringing again the briefings. And I wished to ask – comply with up on Mexico. There’s been reviews that there’s greater than 550 Americans missing in Mexico. Can you speak to that report or provide an alternate quantity if —

MR PRICE: I can’t – I can’t communicate to that determine particularly, and I perceive it is a determine that was aggregated over the course of many years now. And so I can’t communicate to that figure specifically. But we – each time we receive a report of a lacking American citizen, our team on the ground, the staff back here, springs into action to assist the family, to support the loved ones in every way we are able to.

The different complication in relation to lacking American residents – and this isn’t unique to Mexico; this occurs all over the world – oftentimes our embassy will receive a report of a missing American just for the household to be reunited with that American hours or in some cases barely later, and with out that follow-up to the U.S. embassy. So there are many cases that, while they might look unresolved on our books, instances that have been long resolved, where households and family members have been reunited. But I’m just not capable of touch upon that determine specifically.

Yes, within the back.

QUESTION: Yeah, thanks. First of all, best needs on your next skilled transfer.

MR PRICE: Thanks.

QUESTION: And we heard recently voices out of Israel expressing concern about violence and even civil warfare in that country. And we’ve additionally heard from the former Israeli prime minister a name for civil disobedience if the present status of the Israeli supreme courtroom were to be changed. And I simply wished to ask you when you had – or to what extent you may be concerned, the us is anxious, about its – about the way forward for its interests within the Middle East in gentle of what’s at present happening in Israel?

MR PRICE: We are all the time going to have an abiding interest in the Middle East. We are always going to have an ironclad partnership with Israel as a result of it’s a relationship – the U.S.‑Israel relationship is one which since its first moments in 1948 has been predicated on, yes, those shared values, but in addition shared pursuits as well.

Our goal in our engagement with our Israeli partners has been – and with our Palestinian companions for that matter – has been to encourage de-escalation. This is a unstable moment for a lot of reasons on – in numerous realms. When it involves tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, we’re engaged on that. When it involves the vibrant and dynamic debate that’s taking place inside Israel, we’re talking to our Israeli companions as a fellow democracy. We are offering the perspective that we now have as a fellow democracy, again, offering the idea both publicly and privately that from our vantage level constructing consensus for elementary modifications is the best approach to see to it that any change is sturdy, any change is sustainable. There is a dialogue happening now between the prime minister, between the president, between residents of Israel at each degree. This is a dialogue for them to have, however we have offered our perspective, once more, as a fellow democracy.

QUESTION: And to the extent that the U.S. describes Israel as a democracy, as you’ve simply stated, there are now Israelis who’re saying that it’s not so till the Palestinians are freed from Israeli occupation. I just wanted to see to what extent you agree with that parameter for describing – for continuing to explain Israel as a democracy.

MR PRICE: We have a imaginative and prescient, as accomplish that many countries around the globe, as do Israelis and Palestinians, for a negotiated two-state answer, the tip aim of which would be a Jewish democracy residing side by side subsequent to a Palestinian state with security and stability afforded to both.

Our aim at the moment is not to set the events on a direct path to discussions in direction of that negotiated two-state resolution, but initially at least to protect the viability for a two‑state answer. Our concern is that each parties – Israelis and Palestinians – not take steps that put that viability of a negotiated two‑state solution additional out of attain. It’s necessary for the close to time period, but it’s also quite necessary for the longer term as we hope to do every thing we are ready to to advance the shared imaginative and prescient many people have for that negotiated two-state resolution.

Andrea.

QUESTION: Can I observe up with this?

MR PRICE: Sure.

QUESTION: It’s one thing to say that there should be de-escalation on both sides, however we’re at a – Israel is at a pivotal point. According to President Herzog, leaders of – former leaders of Mossad and Shin Bet, in addition to the 37 elite pilots who refused to coach final Wednesday and half a million people in Tel Aviv on – protesting. So civilian society is torn aside. Does it still stay a democracy if these proposed adjustments go through as proposed and there’s no compromise? Does the – doesn’t the united states have a view about Israel as a democracy based mostly on our financial, army, and different commitments to it that are primarily based on it being a democracy?

MR PRICE: What you are saying and what you’ve just pointed to, we think is a mirrored image of the vibrancy of Israel’s democracy. This is a dialog that is taking place throughout Israel. As it so often is in democratic techniques around the world, it could be messy, it may be ugly, but finally it is a conversation between Israelis to determine the kinds of steps that they suppose is acceptable or not.

Our perspective on this is not to weigh in on specific reform proposals, however we now have perspective gained over the course of our 250-year history on tips on how to obtain a degree of sturdiness, tips on how to achieve a level of sustainability, in relation to any proposals, reforms that have put ahead – which were put ahead. That’s the type of steerage – that’s what we’re providing to our Israeli companions. That’s what you heard the President converse to and the Secretary as nicely.

QUESTION: There’s no step that they could take that might get us to rethink some fundamental aspects of the relationship?

MR PRICE: Andrea, it’s exhausting to ascertain a day when we do not share interests and we do not share values with our Israeli partners. We are fellow democracies, we now have been fellow democracies since 1948, and we’re fully confident that that is not going to alter as this debate performs out in Israel.

I’ll take a ultimate query. Yeah.

QUESTION: I even have one. Thank you, Ned. I personally wish to thank you as well, particularly for the respect you could have given to the overseas journalists, and I personally enjoyed your metaphors a lot. In each press briefing, you’ve some metaphor, and at present the metaphor was “two feathers from the same fowl.” That was the metaphor. And I suppose you’ve done an excellent job in telling the American – President Biden’s story in the international relations.

So I wish to start – only one query in regards to the UK. Ambassador Craig Murray just tweeted a couple of days ago that President Biden has basically eliminated the previous prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, from power. And since he has been eliminated, 80 instances has been registered in opposition to him, which incorporates terrorism, homicide, sedition, and all this stuff. And I’ve heard you say this a quantity of occasions on this – standing right here, that President Biden stands with international locations, not individuals. So something about that? Like, what’s the – what is the stand on Pakistan? Since 11 months, I’m very confused how – what’s the position of Biden’s administration on Pakistan.

MR PRICE: Well, you simply stated it yourself. I think we’ve been clear and constant on this. We assist the peaceable upholding of democratic, constitutional, and authorized principles around the world, and naturally that includes in Pakistan. Regarding the specifics of home politics between parties, we don’t take a position. We don’t favor one political candidate. We don’t favor one get together over one other. What we do favor is a constitutional system, is a legal framework, and all events – including in Pakistan – abiding by that constitutional framework.

QUESTION: Okay. Then how can President Modi, about whom New York Times has written two editorials in last one month about the method in which he’s treating journalists?

And lastly, I need to ask you concerning the BBC documentary. You had not watched that documentary. Have you learn the New York Times editorials of how journalists and Muslims are being handled in India underneath his rule? Because I perceive India is the companion, but should you defend President Modi to this extent?

MR PRICE: We defend our shared values. We defend our human rights around the world. We make the identical points when it comes to civil society, human rights in Pakistan, as we do in India, as we do in different international locations all over the world.

Yes, go forward.

QUESTION: Hi. (Inaudible). So on reviews that Xi Jinping is going to speak to Vladimir Zelenskyy after his Moscow go to, an attempt to become more engaged in negotiation and battle resolving, does the U.S. believe that these efforts can result in any meaningful and constructive outcomes? So what are your expectations?

MR PRICE: Well, we would definitely wish to see and hope to see an engagement between President Xi and President Zelenskyy. It’s our understanding from our Ukrainian partners that there’s not an engagement yet on the books, however we’ll see what develops and what the parties say.

There are countries around the globe that have a relationship with Russia that we don’t have. China is at the high of that listing in phrases of the relationship it has with Russia and the leverage that it has with Russia. We wish to see counties around the world use those relationships and use that leverage to help encourage the Russians to finish this brutal warfare of aggression, to place an finish to the violence and the killing that has claimed far too many Ukrainian and far too many Russian lives as properly.

Unfortunately, we’ve but to see the PRC try this. Even because the PRC professes to have this veneer of neutrality, the PRC has supported Russia’s aggression in important ways – financial help, political assist, diplomatic support, rhetorical help when it comes to parroting and echoing the dangerous messaging and lies that we’ve heard from Moscow.

So we would certainly prefer to see the PRC use the leverage that it does should bring about an end to this invasion. We haven’t seen that but. We’ll wait and see if there’s an engagement between President Xi and President Zelenskyy.

Yes, ultimate question.

QUESTION: Thank you. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vershinin mentioned right now that the sanctions reduction on Russian agricultural products and fertilizers doesn’t work. Do you’ve any comments here? And does the U.S. stand prepared to contemplate respectable Russian considerations here?

MR PRICE: We discover it tough to believe that once we know, and the remainder of the world is aware of, that Russia’s exports of food and fertilizer are back as much as pre-war levels. This has been the case for a while now, but when we hear the Russians saying that they are being held again from exporting grain, from exporting fertilizer, it’s simply not true. We have made very clear in the imposition of sanctions on Russia for this brutal aggression that we’ve exempted meals, we’ve exempted fertilizer. We have gone to extraordinary lengths to speak to the personal sector, to speak to governments all over the world that all of our sanctions have carve-outs. All of our sanctions have carve-outs for food, fertilizer, other essential humanitarian carve-outs, as they do in our sanctions regimes around the world. So it’s simply not true.

We’ve heard a variety of excuses from Russia in recent days and weeks as to why the Black Sea Grain Initiative might not be prolonged. We consider it boils down to the truth that the world needs this Black Sea Grain Initiative. The world wants grain from Ukraine, wheat from Ukraine. The world needs to find a way to feed itself and to reap the advantages of this initiative that, since its launch in of August of final yr. has decreased meals costs, has led to an influx of wheat and other foodstuffs on the global market, and ultimately has actually saved lives.

QUESTION: One more? Last one.

MR PRICE: Okay.

QUESTION: Last week —

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

MR PRICE: Thank you. Thank you.

(The briefing was concluded at three:40 p.m.)