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QUESTION:  Oh.  Thank you.  Mr. Secretary, when will you be going to New York to begin the process of triggering snapback sanctions against Iran?  And can you explain how you intend to enforce them without full Security Council backing?  They seem to have given every signal that they are simply going to ignore them.  And so what are you going to do to make it happen?

And, Mr. Foreign Minister, do you agree with the United States on the need for snapback sanctions against Iran?  And how will that impact Iraq?  Thank you.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  So, Carol, I don’t have any announcement on timing on when we’re going to do – the President’s made clear we’re going to do that soon, and we will.  Second, these will be a fully valid, enforceable UN Security Council resolution.  We have every expectation that they’ll be enforced just like every other UN Security Council resolution that is in place.  You have to remember, 2231 isn’t a U.S. document.  It is a UN Security Council document.  It has a set of provisions, it has a set of rights and obligations, and we will be in full compliance with that, and we have every expectation that every country in the world will live up to its obligations, including every member of the P5 and every member of the UN that will take seriously the international commitments to which they have signed up for.  It’s the longstanding commitment of the United States to do that.  We are confident that every country will see that it is in their best interest that UN Security Council Resolution 2231 is fully enforced as it is a valid, extant, continuing set of obligations.  And so the enforcement mechanisms will be just the same enforcement mechanisms we have for all of the UN Security Council resolutions.

FOREIGN MINISTER HUSSEIN:  (Via interpreter) With respect to the United States policy vis-a-vis Iran and the impact of this policy on the situation in Iraq, first of all, we are talking about Iraqi policy.  And I am not here to talk about U.S. policy, so His Excellency the Secretary can talk about the U.S. policy.

With respect to the Iraqi policy, we see that the United States of America is an ally, and a strong ally for Iraq.  And we will continue to protect this alliance and to deepen it and expand it. 

And regarding Iran, Iran is a neighboring country to Iraq, and as a result, there are ties pertaining to geography, history, culture, economy, and the Iraqi policy, or Iraq’s foreign policy, is based out of Iraq’s national interest.  We want to have good relations with our neighbors, provided that nobody interferes in Iraq’s affairs and the Iraqi decision will be made by the Iraqis, and we want to protect our alliances and relations with others, including the United States of America.

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