Iran is 'next' North Korea: Haley
New Delhi, June 28: Describing Iran as the "next North Korea", the US gave clear signals on Thursday that it would like India to stop oil imports from Tehran following Washington's tough sanctions to end its nuclear progarmme.
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, here on a three-day visit and who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, said in a speech on Thursday that just because countries (like India) have deals with Iran, it does not mean that they should be blind to the "violations" by Iran on the nuclear issue.
Replying to a question after her speech at a public function, she said the US believed that Iran was a threat and it cannot take its eyes of Iran.
"Iran, still with all of those incentives, has continued to violate resolution after resolution. They violated (by) building ballistic missiles, they violated by supporting terrorism, they violated by the fact that they are continuing to sell arms to..."
Haley said what President Trump did was "just because countries came to have deal (with Iran), doesn't mean we should be blind to these violations".
"And, what President Trump has said is we need to hold Iran to account....The US wants to be cautious but wants the international community to make sure they are paying attention to the violations. And what we are going to continue to do is to keep the pressure on them and we hope that other countries will join us because in our eyes Iran is the next North Korea," she said.
Asked about her discussions with Modi to find a common ground on the US sanctions and India's business with Iran, the US envoy said she did talk about this with him.
"We do have this in terms of our dialogue because I think that India also recognises the threats of Iran. We understand the logisitics becoming a play with Iran but we have to always make sure that the priority is peace and security.
"And, as long as the priority is peace and security, the US is going to continue to try and work with our partners, our friends and our allies to make sure that we are all pushing Iran to be a good, accountable international neighbour," she said.
Haley's comments assume significance in the context of US wanting India and China to stop oil imports and trade with Iran against the background of its tough sanctions on Teheran.
In her speech, Haley said Iran was a theocratic dictatorship that abuses its people, funds terrorism and spreads conflict throughout the Middle East.
"The Tehran regime is the hidden and sometimes not-so-hidden force behind most of the conflicts in the region and its agressive ambitions reach much further abroad. Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons threatens all of us."
She complimented India as a state with advanced nuclear technologies which was widely accepted around the world.
"Why is that? Because India is a democracy and continues to be a responsible leader. In the last couple of years, India is joining three major non-proliferation groupings. The US also fully supports India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
"India continues to demonstrate it is a responsible steward of its nuclear technology. The world is united against Iran having nuclear weapons because we all have good reasons to worry about what Iran will do with those weapons. India and America enjoy a natural friendship that is based on our shared values and interests. The Trump administration seeks to take the US-India relationship to the next level to build a strategic partnership rooted in our common values and directed towards our common interests," she said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Airlines got 999 hoax bomb threats till Nov 14 this year; 256 FIRs filed: Govt
New Delhi, Nov 28: Airlines received 999 hoax bomb threats this year till November 14 and as many as 256 FIRs have been filed while guidelines have been issued by aviation security regulator BCAS for objective assessment of threats, the government said on Thursday.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said a total of 1,148 hoax bomb threat messages/calls have been received since August 2022 till November 14, 2024 threatening the operations of international and domestic air travel.
While 999 threats were received by airlines during the period from January to November 14, 2024, the count stood at 122 last year and at 27 for the August-December 2022 period.
"256 FIRs have been filed since January 2024 till 14 November 2024, out of which 163 FIRs have been filed during 14 October- 14 November 2024. 12 arrests have been made in view of hoax bomb threat since January 2024 till 14 November 2024," the minister said.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has issued guidelines for objective assessment of threats. The indicative factor has been useful in reducing time taken by the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) during the decision-making process.
"Also, to reduce the overall time taken for convening BTAC to less than 5 minutes, virtual assembly of BTAC through pre-generated video link has been set up. Further, advisories for compulsory 10 per cent of secondary ladder point check-in for all flights, strict monitoring of non-scheduled flight operations, enhanced security measures and surveillance at cargo terminals were issued," Mohol said.
Further, the minister said the government is considering amending the Aircraft (Security) Rules, 2023 to put hoax threat messenger in the no-fly list.
"It is also being considered to amend Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation for covering Aircraft in flight as well as on ground, airport etc," he added.
