"We have deprived this regime of a lot of money" @StateDept Special Representative for #Iran Brian Hook tells #AspenSecurity, calling #Tehran "the epicenter for terror financing, money laundering"
"Today we see Iran losing its grip..." he says, defending US max pressure campaign
"The door continues to be wide open for diplomacy" with #Iran, per @StateDept's Brian Hook
"The supreme leader has chosen resistance over diplomacy. That's his decision"
"We pulled forward the expiration date of the #Iran nuclear deal so that we wouldn't have to deal w/an Iran that was much richer, its proxies are richer & it retained most of its nuclear infrastructure" @StateDept's Hook tells #AspenSecurity about #JCPOA
Moderator @NewsHour's @nickschifrin: "You didn't pull forward the expiration date. You left"
"For as long as #Iran is allowed to enrich, we're going to be having this discussion" replies @StateDept's Hook
"Iran does use nuclear blackmail in order to win concessions" he adds "They are regularly threatening the Europeans"
"We've not put in place the leverage necessary, in terms of pressure & isolation & all of that, in order to get the type of deal that's necessary" per @StateDept's Hook "We've got to get no enrichment restored"
"We have seen a change in their tempo, w/their proxies" per @StateDept's Brian Hook
"You've seen the tactical displacement of #Iranian troops in #Syria" per @StateDept's Hook "We have seen a collapse among the Iraqi people for tolerance of Iranian interference & #Iran knows it is now playing a very weak hand in #Iraq"
"We have seen a pretty marked shift since the killing of Qassem #Soleimani. He was the indispensable man" per @StateDept's Hook, defending his assessment of support for #Iran in the region "There's been a big change since Qassem Soleimani was taken off the battlefield"
"On the intelligence side, I think we are well-postured with a lot of good ppl" per @StateDept's Hook, defending US ability to see into/assess #Iran
"There are a lot of efforts underway. I know that Iran is a priority...That will continue"
.@POTUS decision to pull out of #Iran nuke deal - "I think it's gotten us to a pretty bad place, quite frankly"
former US Under Secretary of State @wendyrsherman tells #AspenSecurity
"We have no deal. #Iran is now enriching at higher levels w/more centrifuges. They are still supporting proxies in the region. They are still undertaking malign behavior in he region" per @wendyrsherman "They are still abusing the rights of their own people"
"What it has gotten them,& Brian [Hook] said this himself, is resistance&actions, in my view, in the wrong direction" per @wendyrsherman "The admn has had a series of tactics but it is not clear to me at all what the strategic objective is...#Iran is nowhere close to negotiating"
"We've seen with #Russia no overarching strategy, no ability to take on #Russia, including whether Russia's given weapons to the #Taliban, whether they've offered bounties for killing American soldiers. Absolutely no action in that regard" per @wendyrsherman
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ISIS-Somalia has dug in - operating out of Buur Dhexaad, described by the UN sanctions monitoring team as "a strategic base secured by natural caves and defensive structures safe from aerial and ground offensives"
ISIS-Somalia leader Abdul Qadir Mumin has also sought to limit unnecessary exposure while focusing on boosting the affiliate's finances thru increased extortion campaigns, per the UN report
Some of that money has been poured into advanced weaponry and drones
ISIS-Somalia has "employed unmanned aerial vehicles for reconnaissance and limited explosive deployment" per the UN. with an aim at "building suicide unmanned aerial vehicles"
NEW: "Growing confidence" that the global leader of ISIS is Abdul Qadir Mumin, also the head of ISIS-Somalia, per new UN sanctions monitoring team report
"But doubts continued to be expressed by other Member States"
If Somalia's Mumin is ISIS leader Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, "it may signify a deliberate pivot towards a more decentralized operational structure, further from the core conflict zone" per the UN report
Of the 9 regional offices set up by ISIS, only 2 remain active in Africa:
- the al-Karrar office in Somalia, which serves as a key financial hub
- the al-Furqan office in Nigeria
HAPPENING NOW: Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing for Tulsi Gabbard to serve as US Director of National Intelligence
"It’s fair to say Ms. Gabbard’s nomination has generated a bit more interest and attention than do most nominees before this committee" per Senate Committee Chairman, Tom Cotton
"But I want to stress that Ms. Gabbard has been and will be treated with the exact same respect, consideration, and professionalism that we have extended to every other nominee" per Cotton
NEW: US intelligence agencies pushing back vs claims health ailments linked to Havana Syndrome were caused by a foreign adversary
"The intelligence does not link a foreign actor to these events. Indeed, it points away from their involvement" per a US intelligence official
"5 elements of the intelligence community continue to assess that it's very unlikely of foreign actors responsible" per the US intelligence official
BUT 2 intelligence agencies have reevaluated - "shift from unlikely w/low confidence to roughly even chance with low confidence"
The US intelligence official, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity, describe the shift in view about the possible involvement of foreign adversaries as "subtle" - "They have a low confidence in their judgments"
NEW: Islamic State-Somalia getting boost from an "influx of foreign fighters"
A just-issued UN sanctions monitoring team report warns the foreign fighters "have expanded and enhanced the group’s capabilities against al-Shabaab"
Influx of foreign fighters to IS-Somalia " has coincided with the re-emergence of the Al-Karrar office as a
key administrative and financial hub for [ISIS] globally" per the UN report
IS-Somalia being led by "a cadre of former al-Shabaab
militants based in the Bari region of Puntland" per UN report
Abdirahman Fahiye Isse Mohamud is the emir of IS-Somalia, per report, "responsible for [ISIS] operations in Somalia"
NEW: Senate Democrats ask @DeptofDefense @TheJusticeDept to look at Elon Musk's reported contact w/Russian officials - "determine whether this behavior should force a review of Mr. Musk’s
continued involvement in SpaceX’s varying contracts" w/the US government
"Communications between Russian government officials and any individual with a security
clearance have the potential to put our security at risk" per @SenatorShaheen @SenJackReed
"We urge you to take appropriate action immediately"
Musk's alleged contacts with Russian officials was first reported by @WSJ, which cited current and former U.S., European and Russian officials