Tag Archives: Rex Tillerson

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson cancelled scheduled events on Saturday on the second day of a visit to Kenya because “he is not feeling well”, a State Department spokesman said. “The secretary is not feeling well after a long couple days working on major issues back home such as …

Senior US officials have claimed President Donald Trump is prepared to launch a military action if necessary against the Syrian government which they say is possibly developing new types of chemical weapons. The officials on Thursday said the government of Syrian Bashar al-Assad saved a part of chemical weapons stockpile …

The Syrian government said on Wednesday that claims by France and the United States that it was still using chemical weapons were “lies”. On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the Syrian government may still be using chemical weapons, following a suspected chlorine attack in the rebel enclave …

The United States is expressing concern about Turkey’s offensive in northern Syria and top officials are appealing for restraint and fears that the conflict could spread. At Monday’s White House briefing, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the U.S. understands Turkey’s “legitimate security concerns” and is “committed to working with …

The protests that have rattled Iran this weekend are in many ways an echo of the near past. In the summer of 2009, millions of Iranians took to the streets to protest the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose rhetoric and policies had isolated their country for four years. The …

The US is going to provide anti-tank weapons to Ukraine, a senior State Department official told CNN. The State Department officially announced Friday evening that the US was going to provide Ukraine with “enhanced defensive capabilities as part of our effort to help Ukraine build its long-term defense capacity, to …

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered to begin direct talks with North Korea without pre-conditions, backing away from a key U.S. demand that Pyongyang must first accept that giving up its nuclear arsenal would be part of any negotiations. Tillerson’s new diplomatic overture comes nearly two weeks after North …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Israel’s “irreplaceable” relationship with the United States in his first public remarks after the Trump administration said it would move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, but he did not address the move directly and instead stressed the threat of Iran. Netanyahu lauded Israel’s expanding …

Days ahead of what should be a major moment for Ivanka Trump on the world stage, CNN has learned Secretary of State Rex Tillerson isn’t sending a high-level delegation to support her amid reports of tensions between Tillerson and the White House. Multiple State Department officials, as well as a …

President Donald Trump put North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism on Monday, a designation that allows the United States to impose more sanctions and risks inflaming tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile programs. The Republican president, who has traded personal insults with North Korean …

When the Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri made a sudden trip abroad last week, it was taken at first to be a routine visit with his political patron, Saudi Arabia. But the next day, he unexpectedly announced his resignation by video from Riyadh, the Saudi capital. He has yet to …

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday he backed diplomatic efforts to bring an end to the Syrian civil war, which has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives over more than six years of conflict, as Islamic State militants near defeat. Mattis was traveling to Finland to meet with …

As U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson heads to Pakistan on Tuesday to pressure Islamabad to act over militants targeting Afghanistan from its soil, anxious Pakistanis may be equally interested in dissuading Washington’s deepening ties with India. Nuclear-armed Pakistan, a staunch U.S. Cold War ally and key player in the …

Kuwait has reportedly called for postponing the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit scheduled in December in the northern Arabian Gulf country. “There is a possibility that the summit be postponed in view of the lack of progress in resolving the Gulf crisis,” Gulf diplomats were quoted as saying by Kuwaiti …

Senior Trump administration officials said on Sunday that the United States was committed to remaining part of the Iran nuclear accord for now, despite President Donald Trump’s criticisms of the deal and his warnings that he might pull out. Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said that Tehran …

US President Donald Trump will accuse Iran of failing to comply with an international nuclear deal, according to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Mr Trump will refuse to certify the deal and refer it to Congress, he told reporters. Such a move would not mean a US withdrawal from the …

President Trump proposed an “IQ tests” face-off with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson after the nation’s top diplomat reportedly called the president a “moron” and disparaged his grasp on foreign policy. In an interview with Forbes magazine published Tuesday, Trump fired a shot at Tillerson over the “moron” revelation, first reported by NBC News and …

The moment was as remarkable as it was unprecedented: A sitting U.S. secretary of state took to the microphone to pledge his fealty to the president — despite his well-documented unhappiness in the job and the growing presumption in Washington that he is a short-timer. Rex Tillerson said Wednesday he …

Al Franken is optimistic about the United States’ future ability to avoid a nuclear showdown with North Korea, but that doesn’t mean that he’s exactly thrilled with the way President Donald Trump has handled the situation. “I don’t think that the president has handled that as well as he could,” …

The United States on Friday declared illegitimate Monday’s Kurdish referendum on independence, as the Iraqi government imposed a ban on international flights to airports operated by the Kurdistan Regional Government and Iraqi troops prepared to seize the semiautonomous region’s border controls. “The United States does not recognize the . . . unilateral …

President Donald Trump’s threat to hit North Korea with “fire and fury” jolted markets from New York to Seoul even as U.S. lawmakers questioned the president’s willingness to back up the heated rhetoric. “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States,” Trump told reporters in Bedminster, …

The top US diplomat told his Russian counterpart that Moscow’s alleged meddling in the 2016 US election has seriously damaged the relationship between the two countries. Speaking at the ASEAN Regional Forum in the Philippines Monday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov …

By Esther Yu Hsi Lee, ThinkProgress — “I’m sure she said: ‘Listen, this is horrible stuff.’” vanka Trump — an official government employee without military experience but with her own White House office— reportedly influenced President Donald Trump’s decision to strike against Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad last week, according to her brother …

By CAROL E. LEE and PETER NICHOLAS – WASHINGTON— President-elect Donald Trump is widening the circle of candidates for secretary of state and will interview more prospects this week, transition officials said, a sign that after multiple meetings with high-profile hopefuls he still isn’t sold on who he wants as …