US outgoing president, Barack Obama, said that it is impossible to launch a military campaign in Syria that would be similar to the one carried out in Libya because the two countries have different situations.
Speaking to reporters in a wide-ranging news conference in the White House, Obama said the main priority of US national security is fighting the armed groups and the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) terrorist group operating in both Iraq and Syria.
“The priority is to combat ISIL whether in Iraq’s Mosul or in Syria’s Raqqah,” he said.
Obama made remarks in a press conference on Monday, his first since Donald Trump was elected as the US new president during the Nov 8 presidential elections.
He stressed that the July 2015 deal was “not just an international agreement between us and the Iranians,” the TIME magazine quoted him as saying.
However, he noted, it was an agreement “between the P5+1, other countries. Some of our closes allies.”
Obama’s remarks came in answer to a question whether he was worried about what the president-elect Donald Trump has already threatened to do by unraveling the nuclear deal with Iran.
On Iran’s commitments to the JCPOA, the US president said “We now have over a year of evidence that they have abided by the agreement. That’s not just my opinion. It’s not just people in my administration. That’s the opinion of Israeli military and intelligence officers who are part of a government that vehemently opposed the deal.”
“To unravel a deal that’s working and preventing Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon would be hard to explain, particularly if the alternative were to have them free from any obligations …,” the outgoing Democratic president said.
Regarding the US deal with Nato, Obama said he would be able during a visit this week to Europe, and then Peru for a summit with Asia-Pacific leaders, to tell allies “there is no weakening of resolve when it comes to America’s commitment to maintaining a strong and robust NATO relationship.”
“This is a time of great change in the world, but America’s always been a pillar of strength and a beacon of hope to peoples around the globe. And that’s what it must continue to be,” he said.
Source: Al-Manar Website
