US says stands by Iran missile sanctions

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on the world’s nations Friday to redouble their efforts to solve the crisis posed by unprecedented numbers of war refugees, help victims of other global crises and combat the rising threat of terrorism at a fundamental level.

“I’m not going to sit here and tell you that every component of that could be prevented, but I can tell you this, right now, we are not seeing the early delivery of funds going to that kind of endeavor at this point in time”, Kerry said.

From Davos, Kerry travels to Riyadh, where he will urge Saudi and Gulf leaders to resolve their differences with Iran in the hopes of working together on Syria and the fight against ISIS.

Davos (CNN)Warning that corruption fuels violent extremism, Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday that the USA would redouble its commitment to fighting it, deeming it a national security priority.

In occasionally mocking tones, a group of Republican senators in Washington chided Kerry, telling reporters it was always clear to them that Iran would use its unfrozen assets to finance terrorism.

“Secretary Kerry admitted what we suspected all along – that the nuclear deal Hillary Clinton spearheaded with Iran is a giant stimulus bill for radical Islamic terrorists”, Priebus said. The penalties were imposed Sunday, a day after the USA and other nations lifted sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program. Zarif calls new United States sanctions over ballistic missile testing ‘illegal, ‘ justifies program as Iran’s self-defense. The rest will likely be used to address Iran’s ailing oil operations and other infrastructure that went without maintenance for years, he added.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was also in Davos, criticised that United States decision.

United Nations agencies this month appealed for 7.73 billion dollars to fund humanitarian operations in and around Syria in 2016 as the conflict is soon entering its sixth year. Kerry said that when Netanyahu told him Thursday the move was part of a “planning exercise” and there and would be no settlement construction there, he responded with a great deal of “concern”.

Kerry said in an interview later Thursday that “Now, if we catch them funding terrorism, they’re going to have a problem with the United States Congress and with other people, obviously”. They said the administration’s failure to certify Iran’s compliance or a determination of a material breach would trigger expedited procedures for legislation to reimpose sanctions.

During a public interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on center stage at the World Economic Forum, Netanyahu said he hoped he would be proven wrong in his fierce objections to the nuclear deal with Israel’s arch-foe, “though I have my doubts, and we shall see very soon”.