00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Shaheen, and Secretary Rubio, good to see you, it's always great to have you here.
00:07Let me start with Iran. I'm deeply concerned, as I know you are, about Iran's nuclear ambitions,
00:14and I agree wholeheartedly with President Trump's view that there must be complete dismantlement of Tehran's nuclear enrichment capabilities.
00:23A key flaw, as you know, in the JCPOA was its failure to address Iran's support for terrorist proxies.
00:29We've seen the horrific results of that.
00:32What assurances is the administration seeking from Iran on its support for terrorist proxies as part of the negotiations?
00:39Well, interestingly enough, the negotiations initially have been focused entirely at this point,
00:44although obviously we're aware of their sponsorship of terrorism in the region, including the Houthis and Hezbollah
00:49and other groups such as this, the militias in Iraq, and their efforts to get back into Syria.
00:55Right now, the focus at this point of this has been their enrichment capability and their insistent on enrichment capability.
01:03Ultimately, I would say that if, in fact, we have sanctions that are related, things such as sanctions that are related to the sponsorship of terrorism
01:10and their violation of weapons conventions and the like, their long-range munitions, those sanctions will remain.
01:17If those aren't part of the deal, then the sanctions will remain as a result of that.
01:21But initially, I could say that the focus of the conversations over the last few weeks with Mr. Witkoff and the Iranians has been on this enrichment matter,
01:30which is by far sort of the core and most critical matter.
01:34As you know, the Iranian position is that they have a right to enrich as a matter of national pride,
01:38and our view has consistently been that they can have a civil nuclear program without an enrichment capability,
01:43and that an enrichment capability, in fact, would be weaponized at some point in the future,
01:48or could be weaponized, and that's a threat that cannot be accepted.
01:51Good. Thank you.
01:54On Syria, I know that many of us are eager to work with you on implementing the President's plan to lift sanctions and protect key U.S. priorities.
02:02What assurances is the administration seeking in your discussions with interim authorities on counterterrorism priorities,
02:09including the fight against ISIS, during the process of lifting the sanctions?
02:14Well, ISIS hates the transitional authority, and they hate al-shara, and they hate everybody in his government,
02:20and I think pose a grave risk to them.
02:22So I don't think the issue with them right now is a matter of willingness or lack of willingness.
02:26It's a lack of capability.
02:28So there will have to continue to be a role to play in the interim period,
02:31both by the United States and our allies and the Kurds and others,
02:34in ensuring that ISIS cannot metastasize and grow.
02:37One of the most threatening things that we would face, for example, is an ISIS prison break,
02:41where suddenly you have a bunch of ISIS fighters loose on the streets and undermining the government.
02:46But I do think that part of this dynamic and why we're in a race against time
02:49is that every day that goes by that the transitional authority does not have control of the government
02:55and or of daily life in some extent or able to provide basic government services
02:59is a day that ISIS has the ability to reconstitute itself and grow as a threat,
03:04both to the transitional authority but ultimately to the broader region.
03:07So I don't sense from them a lack of commitment and desire to do something about it.
03:12I think, frankly, it's at this moment a capacity issue.
03:15They simply at this moment do not have the capacity to assume the anti-ISIS effort by themselves.
03:22But we hope that with a fully integrated Syrian military that includes the Kurds and everybody else,
03:27if you can have no other armed groups in the country except those under the authority of the Syrian government,
03:32then I think you begin to make progress.
03:34But we're not there yet. That's going to take some time to build.
03:36And we look forward to helping as much as we can and as much as little as they want.
03:42Along those same lines, as you know, Turkey has significant interest in Syria
03:46and has been, I think, an important part of the steps that have recently taken place.
03:50But our allies in Israel and Jordan are concerned about Ankara's ambitions there, especially in southern Syria.
03:57How are you managing those tensions and allied concerns as it relates to Turkey's role in Syria?
04:04Well, in the case of Israel, we've had conversations with them about this, what we view as an opportunity for Israel.
04:10If, in fact, Syria is stable and has in it a government that has no interest, as they have said, in fighting a war with the authorities that have said it.
04:18Now, obviously, you have to prove it, but they have said this is a nationalist project.
04:22They are seeking to build a nation. They're not viewing themselves as a launchpad for revolution.
04:27They're not viewing themselves as a launchpad for attacks against Israel.
04:30So we think this is an extraordinary thing.
04:32If, in fact, you have in Syria a stable government that encompasses all the elements of their society
04:37and has no interest whatsoever in fighting wars with Israel over borders or anything else,
04:41I think that's an extraordinary achievement for Israel's security.
04:44Obviously, they're concerned about the Turkish presence, and we've done some things to de-conflict on that front.
04:49And I think one of the key points is going to be foreign military basing inside of Syria,
04:54and that is at some point the transitional authority will have to make a decision about whether they're going to allow foreign military basing.
05:01That includes Russians, but potentially the Turks have wanted that as well, especially in the central part of the country.
05:06Now, the Turks do have a presence in the north, as you know,
05:08and one of the things that our central command was very influential in doing is helping the transitional authority enter a preliminary agreement with Kurdish authorities in the north,
05:19which ultimately should lead to the Kurds becoming part of the broader Syrian government and broader security forces.
05:27And by the way, the Jordanians, despite concerns they may have, have been very helpful and very encouraging in our outreach to the transitional authority.
05:35Very good. Thank you. I yield the rest of my time.
