NATION/WORLD
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 9A
Trump administration says Iran complying with nuclear deal
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
Trump administration has notified
Congress that Iran is complying
with the terms of the 2015 nuclear
deal negotiated by former President
Barack Obama, and says the U.S.
has extended the sanctions relief
given to the Islamic republic in
exchange for curbs on its atomic
program.
However, in a letter sent late
Tuesday to House Speaker Paul
Ryan, Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson said the administration
has undertaken a full review of
the agreement, known as the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action.
“Iran remains a leading state
sponsor of terror, through many
platforms and methods,” Tillerson
wrote. He said the National Secu-
rity Council-led interagency review
of the agreement will evaluate
whether it “is vital to the national
security interests of the United
States.”
The certification of Iran’s
compliance, which must be sent to
Congress every 90 days, is the first
issued by the Trump administration.
The deadline for this certification
was midnight.
As a candidate in the 2016
presidential election, Trump was
an outspoken critic of the deal but
had offered conflicting opinions on
whether he would try to scrap it,
modify it or keep it in place with
more strenuous enforcement. Tues-
day’s determination suggested that
while Trump agreed with findings
by the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog,
the International Atomic Energy
Agency, that Iran is keeping to its
end of the bargain, he is looking for
another way to ratchet up pressure
on Tehran.
Despite the sanctions relief, Iran
remains on the State Department’s
list of state sponsors of terrorism
for its support of anti-Israel groups
and is still subject to non-nuclear
sanctions, including for human
rights abuses and for its backing
of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s
government.
The nuclear deal was sealed in
Vienna in July 2015 after 18 months
of negotiations led by former Secre-
tary of State John Kerry and diplo-
mats from the other four permanent
members of the U.N. Security
Council — Britain, China, France
and Russia — and Germany. Under
its terms, Iran agreed to curb its
nuclear program, long suspected of
being aimed at developing atomic
weapons, in return for billions of
dollars in sanctions relief.
Opponents of the deal, including
Israel, objected, saying it only
delayed Iran’s pursuit of nuclear
weapons and did not allow for the
kind of inspections of its atomic
sites that would guarantee it was not
cheating. Obama, Kerry and others
who negotiated the deal strenuously
defended its terms and said the
agreement made Israel, the Middle
East and the world a safer place.
Vice President Pence to North Korea:
‘The sword stands ready’
AP Photo/Gary Landers, File
In this April 2015 file photo, two members of the Doo-
little Tokyo Raiders, retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Rich-
ard “Dick” Cole, seated front, and retired Staff Sgt.
David Thatcher, seated left, pose for photos after the
presentation of a Congressional Gold Medal honoring
the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders in Dayton, Ohio.
WWII era bombers fly
over Doolittle Raiders
memorial service
DAYTON, Ohio (AP)
— World War II era B-25
bombers have flown over
an Ohio memorial service
marking the 75th anniver-
sary of the Doolittle Tokyo
Raiders’ attack on Japan,
credited with helping turn the
tide the war.
The last Raider living is
101-year-old retired Lt. Col.
Richard “Dick” Cole. He
attended Tuesday’s service
at the National Museum
of the U.S. Air Force near
Dayton. Lead plane co-pilot
Cole came from his Comfort,
Texas, home.
Among the speakers was
the son of Staff Sgt. David
Thatcher, who died last year
BRIEFLY
Former President
George H.W. Bush
hospitalized
HOUSTON (AP) —
Former President George
H.W. Bush has been
hospitalized in Houston for
four days with a recurrence
of a case of pneumonia he
had earlier in the year, a
spokesman said Tuesday.
The 92-year-old former
president has been in
Methodist Hospital in
Houston since Friday for
observation because of a
persistent cough, spokesman
Jim McGrath said in a brief
statement. He said doctors
diagnosed a mild case of
pneumonia that has been
treated and resolved.
Route work
pays for my
children’s
activities.
Become an
East Oregonian
Carrier.
211 SE Byers Ave.
Pendleton
or call:
541-276-2211
1-800-522-0255
in Missoula, Montana. Cole
planned a traditional toast
to the 79th Raider to die,
in a private ceremony with
Thatcher relatives and others.
Three Raiders died trying
to reach safety in China.
Japanese soldiers executed
three. One died in captivity
after the daring attack.
Many of the 80 members
of the Army Air Corps’ 17th
Bombardment Squadron had
been based in Pendleton for
a time, and operated training
and defense flights around
the region.
A local commemora-
tion of the anniversary is
scheduled for April 29 at the
National Guard Armory.
YOKOSUKA, Japan (AP) — From
the wind-swept deck of a massive
aircraft carrier, Vice President Mike
Pence on Wednesday warned North
Korea not to test the resolve of the
U.S. military, promising it would make
an “overwhelming and effective”
response to any use of conventional or
nuclear weapons.
Pence, dressed in a green military
jacket, said aboard the hulking USS
Ronald Reagan that President Donald
Trump’s administration would continue
to “work diligently” with allies like
Japan, China and other global powers
to apply economic and diplomatic
pressure on Pyongyang. But he told the
sailors, “as all of you know, readiness
is the key.
“The United States of America will
always seek peace but under President
Trump, the shield stands guard and the
sword stands ready,” Pence told 2,500
sailors dressed in blue fatigues and
Naval baseball caps on a sunny, windy
morning aboard the carrier at the U.S.
Yokosuka naval base in Tokyo Bay.
“Those who would challenge our
resolve or readiness should know, we
will defeat any attack and meet any use
of conventional or nuclear weapons
with an overwhelming and effective
American response,” Pence said.
Pence also said the U.S. would
protect freedom of navigation in the
South China Sea, the sea lanes vital to
global shipping where China has been
staking claim to disputed territory.
From two continents, Pence and
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned
that North Korea’s latest failed missile
launch was a reckless act of provoca-
tion and assured allies in Asia that the
U.S. was ready to work to achieve
a peaceful denuclearization of the
AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, center, speaks to U.S. servicemen and
Japanese Self-Defense Forces personnel at the U.S. Navy’s Yokosuka
base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, on Wednesday.
Korean Peninsula.
Mattis denounced North Korea’s
attempted missile launch as he began
a Middle East tour, telling reporters
traveling with him to Saudi Arabia,
“the leader of North Korea again reck-
lessly tried to provoke something by
launching a missile,” he said. The term
“reckless” is one the North Koreans
have used to describe ongoing large-
scale U.S. and South Korean military
exercises, which the North calls a dress
rehearsal for an invasion.
Mattis did not identify the type of
missile but said it was not of interconti-
nental range, meaning it could not reach
U.S. territory. He did not comment on
what might have caused the missile to
fail.
Another official, speaking on
condition of anonymity to discuss an
intelligence matter, said the missile
was a Scud variant that the U.S. calls
a KN-17.
Mattis credited China with trying
to help get the North Korea situation
“under control” with the goal of denu-
clearizing the peninsula.
Pence’s speech on the aircraft carrier
followed meetings Tuesday in Tokyo
with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe, where he noted that “all options
are on the table.”
Trump and Pence, who stopped
at the Demilitarized Zone dividing
North and South Korea on Monday,
have signaled this week a forceful U.S.
stance on North Korea’s recent actions.
But it remains unclear what might
come next.