| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
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And over on C-SPAN 3 at 10 a.m., Treasury Secretary Scott Bessett will testify before the House Financial Services Committee, discussing the state of the international financial system. | |
| Then at 2.30, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will speak to reporters following the Central Bank's committee meeting to set policy. | ||
| And at 6.15, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will be speaking at an event in Buffalo, New York. | ||
| You can also watch live coverage on the C-SPAN Now app or online at c-SPAN.org. | ||
| State Department Press Secretary Tammy Bruce opened her briefing by following up on President Trump's announcement that the U.S. will stop bombing Houthi targets after a ceasefire was announced between the militant group and the U.S. | ||
| The briefing runs 40 minutes. | ||
| Putting my phones on do not disturb. | ||
| Cool. | ||
| All righty, everybody. | ||
| Thank you for being here. | ||
| Give you a couple more minutes. | ||
| I know I scooted in here before the two minutes was two minutes. | ||
| How's everybody today? | ||
| Looks like it's nice out there. | ||
| Good. | ||
| Thank you guys. | ||
| I'm really hoping, even though these ladies have been allowed to bring their computers in again, that it won't be as exciting as Thursday. | ||
| But we'll see. | ||
| We'll see. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good. | |
| All right. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, everybody. | |
| So a little bit of an update here, an announcement for you. | ||
| A couple of announcements. | ||
| The State Department has no higher priority than ensuring the safety and security of Americans, whether at home or abroad. | ||
| To that end, President Trump has made it a priority to bring home Americans unjustly detained overseas. | ||
| Yesterday, Secretary Rubio joined President Trump in welcoming home Kassenia Carolina to the Oval Office, who was wrongfully detained in Russia for over a year. | ||
| In his first hundred days, the 47th president has secured the release of 47 unjustly held Americans. | ||
| No administration has worked so hard or so quickly to bring home U.S. citizens imprisoned abroad. | ||
| That is because of the leadership of President Trump, and we are committed to bringing home every single American who is wrongfully detained around the world. | ||
| Secretary Rubio also joined President Trump in the Oval Office today for a meeting with the Canadian Prime Minister. | ||
| During the meeting, Prime Minister Kearney described his intention to increase Canada's defense spending, meeting President Trump's, exceeding President Trump's leadership there and the demand of what he was looking for. | ||
| Nine years ago, most NATO allies were nowhere near spending 2%. | ||
| Today, allies agreed that they must increase their defense spending, and every week more are announcing the increase, 18 countries, in fact, since the November election. | ||
| Let's see here. | ||
| We've got now something very important I think most of you have heard about, certainly through the President as well. | ||
| The President also announced in this meeting that the Houthis have capitulated following the administration's strikes. | ||
| In the President's words, the Houthis have announced that they don't want to fight anymore. | ||
| They just don't want to fight, and we will honor that, and we will stop the bombings. | ||
| They say that they will not be blowing up ships anymore. | ||
| As Secretary Rubio explained, this was always a freedom of navigation issue. | ||
| These are a band of individuals with advanced weaponry that were threatening global shipping, and the job was to get that to stop. | ||
| And if it's going to stop, then we can stop. | ||
| There is also something now retweeted by Ambassador Witkoff's ex-account, I believe, noting that following recent discussions and contacts conducted by the Sultanate of Oman with the United States and the relevant authorities in Sana'a in the Republic of Yemen, with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides. | ||
| So that's always a good thing. | ||
| Now, in another important announcement, Secretary Rubio has decided to merge the responsibilities of the Office of the Palestinian Affairs Office fully into other sections of the United States Embassy in Jerusalem. | ||
| This decision will restore the first Trump term framework of a unified U.S. diplomatic mission in Israel's capital that reports to the U.S. Ambassador to Israel. | ||
| Ambassador Huckabee will take the steps necessary to implement the merger over the coming weeks. | ||
| The United States remains committed to its historic relationship with Israel, bolstering Israel's security and securing peace to create a better life for the entire region. | ||
| And now I will take your questions. | ||
| Daphne. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thank you. | |
| On the seafire deal with the Houthis, could you give a sense of how the State Department was involved in this? | ||
| What's the U.S. engagement with Oman and the Houthis look like on this? | ||
| Well, we've got some details. | ||
| Again, I've noted to you what the Omanis have messaged, again, retweeted by Ambassador Witkoff. | ||
| I can read you a little bit more here as well that gives you a few more details. | ||
| In the future, they note, neither side will target the other, including American vessels in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping. | ||
| The Sultanate of Oman expresses its gratitude to both parties and their constructive approach that led to this welcome outcome and hopes that it will lead to further progress on many regional issues toward achieving justice. | ||
| So at that point, though, there's more that obviously you want to hear about, obviously some of the details, and I would expect I'll have more for that on that for you probably on Thursday's briefing. | ||
| We'll look for it there. | ||
| Andrea. | ||
|
unidentified
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Hanki, can I follow up on that, please? | |
| Sure, of course. | ||
|
unidentified
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Does this ceasefire also extend to the Houdis not attacking Israel and Israel not attacking the Houdis as they have just today in retaliation for the attack by the Houdis against the area near Ben-Gurion just a few days ago? | |
| Well, and just looking at the President's remarks, looking at this particular message from the Omanis, this is about the Red Sea, the attacking of ships, and the nature of the action that the United States had taken, making it very clear at the time that this was not going to be a pinprick operation, that we were going to continue this operation until the Houthis stopped attacking shipping in that framework. | ||
| That is what I've seen here, and that's all I can remark on. | ||
|
unidentified
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Ambassador Witkoff said last night at the Israeli Independence Day celebration that very, very shortly there would be announcements on expansion of the Abraham Accords. | |
| The President also today said that there would be a big announcement next week that was very positive, but that he was just, my word, sort of teasing about it. | ||
| I think it would be a classic, you know, talking about something before it lands without giving too many details. | ||
| That is certainly, of course, my situation here as well. | ||
| But when the President says there's going to be a big announcement, I would take him seriously. | ||
| And he would, of course, I think, put it that way in the fact that it's very good news for people. | ||
|
unidentified
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And what about Ambassador Witkoff saying very, very shortly there would be an expansion of the Abraham Accords? | |
| Well, I will wait for the Secretary when it comes to the details of what's going to be described and announced in that regard. | ||
| Of course, we know of the importance of the Abraham Accords, starting with the success in the first Trump term and what that meant for the region, something that no one ever thought would occur. | ||
| Once again, Trump has a tendency to accomplish those kinds of things that make a huge difference for a long time. | ||
| So I have nothing to report for you right now, but clearly it appears as though I will later on in the week. | ||
| Nadia. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thank you. | |
| I want to follow up on Yemen. | ||
| Despite the statement by the President and the Secretary on the ceasefire, and also there are many foreign ministers just confirming it, the other side, which is the House, the Houthis themselves, denied it. | ||
| They're saying that we are not going to stop attacking the ships. | ||
| So how do you explain that? | ||
| Well, they're a terrorist group. | ||
| For my basis of who to listen to and who to take seriously, of course, is the President of the United States, Ambassador Witkoff, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. | ||
| I think that, as what we've said, of course, also when it comes to other situations, is that we look to actions, not words. | ||
| And clearly, there's been development here that the President shared, and I think his words are the words that one needs to rely on. | ||
|
unidentified
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And the attack on the port of Sana'a, as you know, Sanao is completely out of service. | |
| 20 million people are affected as a result. | ||
| Was this attack coordinated with the United States, or do you think this is more like a collective punishment against civilians in Yemen as well? | ||
| Because they won't be able to use that port anymore. | ||
| Well, I certainly, you know, I would refer you to the DOD regarding any questions about American action, certainly with the operations that we'd had against the Houthis and the shipping issue. | ||
| But I can't speak to any action, of course, that Israel may have taken or the nature of any of that. | ||
| But in regard to the rest of this, President Trump categorized this as some very good news that the Houthis announced, again, they don't want to fight anymore and that we will honor that and stop the bombing. | ||
| He said they have capitulated. | ||
| And again, we had a very specific framework there, but again, I'd refer you to the DOD in regard to that. | ||
| Matt Lee, interested in the subject line? | ||
|
unidentified
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Sure. | |
| I still just don't really understand what. | ||
| I mean, if the Houthis have only agreed to stop attacking American vessels and you guys have only agreed to stop attacking Houthi targets, that does not really fall into line with what Secretary Rubio has said, which is attacks on all international shipping in the Red Sea. | ||
| Well, it was that venue. | ||
| It was that arena regarding the Red Sea and the shipping within that framework. | ||
|
unidentified
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I understand that. | |
| But if this is a deal with just the U.S. and the Houthis and no one else is included, and the Houthis are still going after French ships or German ships or Israeli ships or whoever, I'm not quite sure how this is anything other than just saying, okay, we won, we're leaving. | ||
| But terrorism and I don't recall those lines being used. | ||
| What I can say is that Secretary Rubio said this was always a freedom of navigation issue. | ||
| And of course, our approach was the fact that they had struck ships hundreds of times, including our ships, in that area. | ||
| And this is one of the cases where we, again, a very transparent administration, a president who is speaking and will speak on what's happening, what he's planning, what we hope for, what he has heard. | ||
| And I would take him at his word in that regard. | ||
| Of course, Secretary Rubio was in the Oval Office at this point. | ||
| I would encourage all of us, and I'm looking forward to it too, to getting more details and the nature of how it manifested. | ||
| That always, of course, interests us. | ||
| We have a sense here with what Ambassador Witkoff tweeted, that Oman, of course, was involved, and that there's an understanding that this is moving forward. | ||
| So we will no doubt have more information, and I think we'll have our answers when we do. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Wait, hold on, when this moves away from the Middle East, can you just remember I asked you if there was a reaction to the German chancellor election. | |
| So when we get to Europe or whatever, then you can. | ||
| Matt, Matt, Matt? | ||
| Thank you. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thanks. | |
| Jillian. | ||
| Off topic, if I may, because I've got to question on China. | ||
| There's going to be a vote in the House tomorrow where members are going to have to kind of decide if they want to support Republican efforts to sort of push back against Chinese Communist Party influence in U.S. academia. | ||
| Does Secretary Rubio have a position on deporting the students here that are like associated? | ||
| It's called the Confucius Institute, as you know. | ||
| Well, I can't speak about that particular issue, but of course, Secretary Rubio has made his position clear about the kinds of individuals who are going to have their visas revoked or not renewed, involving whether or not their actions affect our foreign policy interests or are the opposite of what it is they said that they would be doing here if they engage in certain kind of behavior. | ||
| So, but what we will do is see how the Secretary feels about this. | ||
| And I do expect to talk with him a little bit later. | ||
| So we'll take that back and get it back to you because I know you're going to be reporting on that. | ||
| But we'll do that. | ||
| Also, one more, if I may. | ||
| Can you tell us, there's plenty of criticism, as I'm sure you're aware of, out there, folks who say the new dual-hatted role for the Secretary is problematic. | ||
| Can you tell us how he feels about being appointed National Security Advisor? | ||
| Well, what I can tell you is that this is a man who accepted a job because he knew he could do it. | ||
| He is here, he's had tremendous success as Secretary of State. | ||
| He also knows what's required there. | ||
| He's in the White House a great deal. | ||
| He has an excellent relationship with the President. | ||
| And if the President's going to ask him to do something, the President feels also that he would be obviously a good fit or he wouldn't have asked him to do it in an interim basis. | ||
| I have found, and I can just speak to my own experience with him, that Secretary Rubio is very focused. | ||
| He enjoys being here. | ||
| He likes his work. | ||
| I think most of the time he loves his work. | ||
| This is a man who's committed to wanting to make a difference in the world. | ||
| And we're in a remarkable time where someone with his family background and experience, as with President Trump's, as with mine, as with many of you, maybe sometimes find ourselves surprised to be in this building and working and doing this kind of job. | ||
| I find Secretary Rubio to hold that honesty about the reality of our situations really close to his heart. | ||
| And I see that in his work and how he responds to people and what his goals are. | ||
| So I think it's fair to say that he enjoys what he's doing, that he's grateful for the opportunities, and he's going to be with everyone talking about, you know, the last person who held this was Kissinger. | ||
| I think what we're looking at is a new age in the 21st century. | ||
| And Marco Rubio is going to, I think, have a tremendous impact. | ||
| Yes. | ||
|
unidentified
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Going back to the Middle East on this deal with the Houthis, were the Israelis informed prior to the President's announcements in the Oval Office that this understanding had been reached between the U.S. and the Houthis? | |
| I can't speak to that at this point. | ||
|
unidentified
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And then on this foundation that was teased this weekend about delivering aid to Gaza, the UN and AIDAC community have unanimously rejected this. | |
| They say that it goes against the humanitarian principles of objectivity. | ||
| Is the U.S. going to take that criticism into account as it tries to move forward on this, or is it a done deal and we should expect well first of all, I'm not going to get ahead of what will be a very important announcement for those who know speaking about the issue of getting aid into Gaza. | ||
| That information will, I think, be forthcoming, certainly in a few days. | ||
| So I'm not going to get ahead of the nature of what complaints might be or who is unhappy, but I have a feeling that I'll have plenty to say, as will many others, when this is formally announced. | ||
| And it will be very, very good news. | ||
| So we're looking forward to that. | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Tari. | |
| I have two questions, if you don't mind. | ||
| My first, just on the announcement you made about the Palestinian Affairs Office of Emergency and to other sections of the embassy. | ||
| Can you just please explain what's the mindset behind that? | ||
| Given that a few weeks ago also the department eliminated the position of the security coordinator in the West Bank. | ||
| So is it part of minimizing contact with Palestinian Authority, Palestinian people, or this restructuring? | ||
| Well, this is something actually that had been established in Trump's first term. | ||
| So this is not a new decision. | ||
| It's not a new idea. | ||
| It, in fact, restores his first term framework of a unified U.S. diplomatic mission in Israel's capital that reports to the ambassador to Israel. | ||
| So this is something that was reversed by the previous administration that had already been established. | ||
| Ambassador Huckabee, of course, is in charge, will be taking steps to do this. | ||
| But it also is not a reflection on any outreach or commitment to outreach to the people of the West Bank or to Gaza. | ||
| It really is actually very similar to what's happening here with the bureaus, with our reorganization. | ||
| It is making sure that the issues that are important are all working together, right, are not segmented out, so that the interests of the embassy, very much like the interests of our foreign aid and other actions, can work together in the Bureau as one entity. | ||
| And that was the intention of that. | ||
| And again, it was established in the first term. | ||
| And now this is just being restored effectively to reflect the President's vision. | ||
|
unidentified
|
My second question is: today the Egyptians, some sources in Egypt said that they received a U.S. proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza. | |
| This happened a few minutes before the President himself announced that there will be good news. | ||
| Can you confirm that you delivered to the mediators anyway? | ||
| No, I can't. | ||
| Yeah, I can't speak to what sources might say or to speculate or what might or might not still be negotiated. | ||
| What I do like is the fact that there are a few things that might be the big good news coming up. | ||
| Now, won't that be nice? | ||
| So this is something that, what is this? | ||
| So it's Tuesday, so we have a few days left to go. | ||
| But there is good news. | ||
| I think just like today with the news of the Houthis, that there's good news and that the work can reap dividends, as we've seen in the past with President Trump's intentions and his work. | ||
| So I'm sorry, I can't answer that specifically. | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you very much. | |
| On March 8th, you ended the waiver that allowed Iraq to import electricity from Iran. | ||
| But Iran continues to import electricity to Iraq. | ||
| What is your comment on this? | ||
| Well, as part of the maximum pressure campaign, the waiver for, you're right, for Iraq to import Iranian electricity was not renewed last month, March of 2025. | ||
| The government of Iraq is taking steps to secure alternate sources of electricity, including through expanding gas capture and increasing imports from other neighboring countries. | ||
| Some of these efforts are directly benefiting U.S. companies, including the recent signing of memorandums of understanding with UGT Renewables and GE Vernova. | ||
| And of course, we continue to support all of efforts, all of Iraqis' efforts to end their energy reliance on Iran. | ||
| All right. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, sir. | |
| Yes. | ||
| Hi. | ||
| Thanks for coming. | ||
| U.S. Special Envoy for Africa, Massad Bouros, said yesterday on X that the DRC and Rwanda have submitted draft proposals ahead of a peace plan. | ||
| And parallel to that, Rwanda's foreign minister today actually told AFP that they had agreed and set out on a calendar and that there would be a meeting of the foreign ministers end of May or mid-May in Washington and then a final, hopefully, peace agreement in June in Washington. | ||
| Can you confirm any of those exactly? | ||
| Well, what I can confirm is this, of course, the important historic meeting that Secretary Rubio established that happened on April 25th with the foreign ministers of the DRC and Rwanda occurred, of course. | ||
| And at this meeting, both sides committed to reaching a resolution. | ||
| This is a decades-old conflict. | ||
| And they signed a Declaration of Principles. | ||
| The date involved in that was May 2nd, which was a date for them to make additional outlines of what it was they were going to do to reach that principle and that goal of ending that conflict. | ||
| So that was outlined in the Declaration of Principles. | ||
| Both of them, in fact, by that date, submitted the inputs, their ideas for a draft peace agreement and a roadmap for peace. | ||
| When we think about the remarkable establishment of this, some conflicts that are so old or not as looked at as much as others that are in the world, we are working on all of them. | ||
| And this was a tremendous achievement. | ||
| So both did meet that deadline. | ||
| We welcome, of course, those details and recognize this is an important step toward fulfilling the commitments made in that Declaration of Principles. | ||
| And we are going to build on the momentum and continue to work with African Union partners and both of the parties to get to an agreement that delivers a durable peace, economic prosperity, and stability in the region. | ||
| Senior Advisor Boulos' meetings in Doha last week, in fact, were a further step toward that goal. | ||
| And that's all I can report to you. | ||
| But it's more good news. | ||
| What do we know? | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Secretary, moving to Ukraine, if I may. | |
| The President has been discussing Ukraine peace efforts with foreign leaders. | ||
| We heard from the White House over the weekend about the call with Iran. | ||
| We heard him saying it today with the Canadian Prime Minister. | ||
| It's happier that he cannot walk us into the White House discussion. | ||
| Let me ask you this. | ||
| Does that mean that you guys are staying very much as a key mediators, continentary media reports, and that following minerals deal talks are entering right now into a new phase? | ||
| Well, first I can tell you, of course, there were some erroneous reports, fake reports about the nature of where we stand. | ||
| I made a number of comments in the midst of those reports, debunking them. | ||
| The fact is, is that Ukraine, of course, we've been its largest supporter. | ||
| We remain its largest supporter. | ||
| We remain within our posture of being mediators within this framework. | ||
| But as I think I said to you last Tuesday, a week ago, was that we do recognize, and everyone has to, that both parties must come up with their proposals for an enduring peace. | ||
| That we are looking for that progress. | ||
| And that is because we have a time in our minds. | ||
| The President has noted that this can't go on forever, as has the Secretary. | ||
| And so the framework of if we were to withdraw as a mediator would come if we don't see progress from the parties. | ||
| And we do. | ||
| The President has made recent comments about his continuing optimism about what was possible. | ||
| And of course, the Secretary also has been traveling a great deal and continues to. | ||
| But our commitment is not one that is fainting. | ||
| It is not one that was brief. | ||
| This is a commitment that, well, styles might change on occasion or the nature of the strategies might change, but our commitment remains the same. | ||
| And again, it is reliant on the parties showing us that progress is possible, that they're working for progress, that steps are being taken for progress. | ||
| And then the President, who is in charge of how this proceeds, will make his determination. | ||
| He's, of course, involved with all of the parties in this regard, along, of course, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and, of course, the interim NSA. | ||
| So we're sure about that. | ||
| I appreciate you bringing it up because there's a lot of fake news. | ||
| I think we've been extremely clear. | ||
| And I appreciate the opportunity to be clear again about our commitment to Ukraine. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks so much for that. | |
| When you say both parties, I fail to understand why Ukraine is in this, let's say, group. | ||
| Ukraine did everything you asked them to do. | ||
| They signed a lot of people. | ||
| Well, yes, and I have enjoyed being at the summits, working with people, meeting my counterparts in Ukraine, their commitment. | ||
| Obviously, they want this to stop, this carnage to stop. | ||
| It's clear. | ||
| But I'm not in every room with every conversation. | ||
| What I convey to you in my role is what the Secretary of State has said and what the President has noted, is that the parties must come together with concrete efforts and acknowledgements and ideas and strategies to end the conflict. | ||
| So when that is something I convey to you, I can't, I'm not going to speak for Ukrainians, certainly not for the Russians, but both parties within the framework of the conversations that the negotiators and diplomats are having must participate in that framework. | ||
| Yes, ma'am. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you very much, Tammy. | |
| I have two questions. | ||
| One on the U.S. diplomatic missions. | ||
| Another one is China and Russia, if I may. | ||
| Regarding the closure of U.S. diplomatic missions overseas, can you confirm that the United States is considering closing the diplomatic missions in 27 countries around the world and will also close its consulate in Pusan, South Korea? | ||
| And the second question, it has been reported that Chinese companies are producing missiles in Russia. | ||
| And Russia, the Kremlin, announced that it would strengthen solidarity with China to celebrate Victory Day. | ||
| What are you concerned about China and Russia's military cooperating? | ||
| Well, what I've said several times from this podium is that there are several nations that are responsible for helping move the carnage that is unfolding in Ukraine in this war. | ||
| That many nations are responsible for the nature of how it continues. | ||
| And I've stated that several times, the State Department has as well. | ||
| And so I'm going to leave that there. | ||
| Regarding our missions and our consulates, I have nothing to report for you at this point regarding the nature of what will be transpiring, but I will ask if we can take another look at perhaps if there are announcements or any updates on that particular dynamic. | ||
| We'll get back to you certainly. | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Glasses. | |
| Yesterday there was a meeting of the National Security Council where all the permanent and non-permanent members were there, including U.S. | ||
| That meeting was on the Pakistani attention and all the members were of the view that the only way to resolve Pak India tensions is to resolve the Kashmir issue. | ||
| Is I'm sorry to do what? | ||
|
unidentified
|
The Kashmir issue should be the Kashmir issue. | |
| Yes, of course. | ||
| It should be resolved like through UN Security Council resolution which were adopted and approved. | ||
| Like many decades ago, U.S. also approved it. | ||
| So just wondering if you want to say about something on any position. | ||
| Well, there's, as we know, this is a dynamic, serious issue. | ||
| So I'll repeat some of what I've said before. | ||
| But as you know, I'm limited here. | ||
| It remains an evolving situation. | ||
| We clearly are still closely involved in monitoring. | ||
| We continue to urge Pakistan and India to work towards a responsible resolution that maintains long-term peace and regional stability in South Asia. | ||
| We remain in touch with the governments of both countries at multiple levels. | ||
| We are not watching from afar in that regard. | ||
| We are engaged. | ||
| And we're aware of various reports that are happening in the midst of this very delicate situation. | ||
| And of course, I think not without being involved, certainly in the phone calls, I do have, it's comfortable to have tremendous trust in the President and in the Secretary of State when it comes to how this is unfolding. | ||
| All right, yes, sir. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| We'll move on. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Did you confirm that there's a meeting with Iranian this Sunday? | |
| This is the first. | ||
| And the second one, is there any connection between the Houthi ceasefire and your diplomatic engagement with Iran? | ||
| You know, this is the Houthi dynamic and other things that are unfolding. | ||
| We have news every day, fortunately, much good news. | ||
| And this has been a commitment from day one, right? | ||
| From the moment and before, certainly back to his first term, what President Trump has been interested in. | ||
| So while we're going to have all kinds of things that might happen at the same time, it's important to not conflate them. | ||
| That we have results of things that have been worked on for weeks and months that are now coming to fruition. | ||
| Also, the President's interest in, as an example, the aid to Gaza and his personal involvement and commitment to having that get resolved is something that does make things move faster, but everything his administration does is fast-moving. | ||
| So I would say that is to be cautious in the fact that we're looking at the development of things that are important, but have been in the works for a long time and are not tied to a certain development or linked to one thing or another. | ||
| But you're going to have things happen at the same time when you've got a singular region, multiple issues happening, multiple negotiations, multiple efforts for ceasefires. | ||
| Inevitably, things are going to happen simultaneously. | ||
| But I think that that is the result of the kind of work that we've been engaged in for weeks now. | ||
| And so that's, I mean, that's all I can say about that. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The meetings with Iranian this Sunday? | |
| We've had that question before. | ||
| Certainly last week we addressed it. | ||
| I have no specifics for you about what is occurring. | ||
| And I can't confirm what will occur. | ||
| But as soon as we do, and if we do, you will hear it right from this podium. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Everything is so important. | |
| Yes, sir. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| My wise colleague asked one of my questions. | ||
| But the Trump administration released a budget blueprint on Friday. | ||
| It's not a leak or a draft, it's an actual budget blueprint that they send to Congress, and it includes massive cuts for the United Nations. | ||
| So, with Ambassador Designet Waltz heading there, presumably at some point this year, I mean, what is going to be his mandate? | ||
| Is he going in with priorities to advance certain U.S. interests, or is he going in with more of like a Secretary McMahon's mandate to kind of start to unwind things, so to speak? | ||
| What is his mandate going to look like? | ||
| Well, I think that conversation is something that President Trump and soon-to-be Ambassador Waltz would be having. | ||
| What we do know is that what the White House submits to Congress is a budget that reflects their commitments and what they want, and it certainly is consistent with the nature of what they're trying to do with government, which is not just for the sake of making it smaller, but making it more efficient. | ||
| You've got to be nimble, and you've got to know what your mission is. | ||
| You've got to be spending money based in a way that is a reflection of what the American foreign policy is, what our values are, and that bigger doesn't necessarily mean better. | ||
| It certainly doesn't mean necessarily that you can get things done. | ||
| As a matter of fact, more bureaucracy, the less that you're able to accomplish. | ||
| So, from the start, and I have a feeling we might be talking about this for four years, is the fact that just because something is changing or looks different doesn't mean it doesn't exist or it's not going to do the same job. | ||
| It will do a better job. | ||
| That is always the goal, and that is the focus. | ||
| So, and then, of course, this is a budget recommendation from the White House, and then we will watch that unfold with Congress. | ||
| But it certainly reflects the President's agenda and his goals. | ||
| Yes, Eric. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, Tony. | |
| If I could ask, we've seen reports the last couple of days about, you mentioned the President's statement today about the Houthis and their ceasing of attacks on U.S. ships. | ||
| But we've also seen reports in the region that Israel is calling up more reservists for a potential expansion in Gaza. | ||
| Can you speak to the challenge of fighting all of the different Iranian proxies at once? | ||
| And is this an area of concern as far as the potential for an expansion in the fighting and the conflict in Gaza? | ||
| Well, you know, we've seen clearly the nature of Hamas and that it has to be wiped off out of Gaza completely if there's to be any peace. | ||
| We certainly have seen the impact on Hezbollah as Israel continues to defend itself against that armed squad of Iran and the Houthis as well. | ||
| The good news is the United States, of course, can do many things at once. | ||
| Israel also has a right to defend itself. | ||
| And as an ally, we support that and we clearly have made that clear to the world as well. | ||
| And the remarkable agreements and at least even just getting Iran to the table has been a tremendous accomplishment for our ambassadors, for President Trump's foreign policy. | ||
| So it's not what one would want. | ||
| You want a peaceful world. | ||
| President Trump came in to a world that was left behind through the previous administration in a condition that required immediate intervention. | ||
| And that is what he has done, and that is what the American people expected. | ||
| He is acting on that expectation. | ||
| It's, again, a lot of us would, certainly everyone involved in these conflicts and wars. | ||
| This is not what any family anywhere in the world imagines what the next day would be for their families. | ||
| And I'm proud, and we all should be, that the United States continues to work to change all of these conflicts, to bring them to heal, to stop them, and to make people's lives better. | ||
| I'm very excited that many efforts are going to bring fruit to our conversations. | ||
| And we'll be able to talk more about that later in the week. | ||
| But no, I think that when it comes to Israel defending itself, us supporting Israel, and the nature of our commitment for peace in that region, Iran is certainly at that framework, and we have tremendous ambassadors like Steve Witkoff setting the table there about what needs to happen for the country, for the region, and for the world. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So going back to Ukraine, you said you were waiting for concrete proposals. | |
| And so are there any new proposals? | ||
| And, you know, what's the status? | ||
| Well, if there were new proposals, I wouldn't stand here and say we were waiting for new proposals. | ||
| And that at the same time, there is a word I used a lot in the beginning of my briefings, but it's true here. | ||
| It's fluid, right? | ||
| So it doesn't happen only at certain times of the day or when I'm briefing. | ||
| These are efforts and conversations that I have to say are really 24-7, right? | ||
| There's action in each part of the world in making a difference here and finding a common ground. | ||
| Secretary Rubio has noted on a few occasions that in some ways getting them to the table was the easy part. | ||
| Then you have to discuss, you want the ceasefire, you want this slaughter to stop. | ||
| Then it comes down to how do you get two parties like this to agree to stop in a durable way, in a long-term way. | ||
| That's the difficult part. | ||
| We have not even, we've got to get to that ceasefire part. | ||
| But the conversations, that's why there's been this dynamic of we've got to see progress in order for us to understand the process and whether how our process and how our posture in that will continue. | ||
| And that becomes the question. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Let me ask you more broadly. | |
| Ask me in a different way. | ||
|
unidentified
|
No, no, no. | |
| All right, go ahead and give it a shot. | ||
|
unidentified
|
With regards to the negotiations, but also, brother, do you still support the principle of territorial integrity and not changing? | |
| That's a much easier, much different question. | ||
| Obviously, I'm not. | ||
| Now, if we were at a seminar somewhere, my alma mater at USC, I would love to have that conversation with you, but I won't hear today. | ||
| Matt, so you wanted me to follow up on the German elections, is that right? | ||
|
unidentified
|
The election of the Chancellor, if you have something else. | |
| Yes, yes. | ||
| So we congratulate Frederick Mertz on his election as Chancellor in Germany. | ||
| We will continue to work with Germany and its next government to ensure the security of the United States and Europe. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay. | |
| So there you go. | ||
| Congratulations to the Chancellor. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Wait, wait, hold on. | |
| Matt, that's it for today. | ||
| Thank you, everyone. | ||
| Have a great day. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you, everyone. | ||
| Oh, well, yes. | ||
| Actually, there is something, one more thing, and thank you for this as we move on from congratulating people. | ||
| There is something, two individuals that I think this is an important thing and that I wanted to make note of, and certainly the people that I work with wanted to make note of. | ||
| So before we conclude officially, I want to take a moment to honor the lives and legacies of two towering figures in American diplomacy, Ambassador Ruth Davis and Ambassador Lino Guterres, both of whom we sadly lost in recent days. | ||
| Ambassador Davis was a trailblazer whose distinguished service as a director of the Foreign Service Institute and the Director General of the Foreign Service shaped generations of diplomats. | ||
| Ambassador Guterres served our nation with great distinction as U.S. Ambassador to both Argentina and Nicaragua. | ||
| A steadfast champion of diplomacy, his commitment to service inspired many. | ||
| We remember them not only for their contributions to our country, but for the grace, wisdom, and integrity they brought to the craft of diplomacy. | ||
| Their absence leaves a profound void, and their legacies endure. | ||
| May their memories continue to inspire us all. | ||
| Again, Ambassador Ruth Davis and Ambassador Leno Guterres. | ||
| That's how we'll end today. |