Latest news with #JonathanLanday
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
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Exclusive-US mulls giving millions to controversial Gaza aid foundation, sources say
By Jonathan Landay WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former U.S. officials, a move that would involve the U.S. more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos. The sources and former U.S. officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the U.S. State Department. The plan has met resistance from some U.S. officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said. The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza's 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume. The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs. The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites. On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an "economic interest" in the for-profit U.S. contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF's aid distribution hubs in the enclave. While U.S. President Donald Trump's administration and Israel say they don't finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it. The U.S. and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that. USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump's drive to align U.S. foreign policy with his "America First" agenda. One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency's dismemberment. The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF's operations for 180 days. The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The two sources said that some U.S. officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF's contractor, and violence nearby. Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said. Gaza hospital officials have said more than 80 people had been shot dead and hundreds wounded near GHF's distribution points between June 1-3. Since launching its operation, the GHF has opened three hubs, but over the past two days, only two of them have been functioning. Witnesses blamed Israeli soldiers for the killings. The Israeli military said it fired warning shots on two days, while on Tuesday it said soldiers had fired at Palestinian "suspects" advancing towards their positions.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
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State Department shifts $250 million from refugee aid to 'self-deportations'
By Jonathan Landay WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. State Department has moved $250 million to the Department of Homeland Security for voluntary deportations by migrants without legal status, a spokesperson said, an unprecedented repurposing of funds that have been used to aid refugees uprooted by war and natural disasters. The money has been transferred "to provide a free flight home and an exit bonus to encourage and assist illegal aliens to voluntarily depart the United States," the State Department spokesperson told Reuters. Historically, those funds have been used "to provide protection to vulnerable people" overseas and to resettle refugees in the U.S., said Elizabeth Campbell, a former deputy assistant secretary of state. The re-routing of the money comes as President Donald Trump pushes to reshape U.S. government agencies to serve his 'America First' agenda. The State Department's planned reorganization explicitly states that the agency's refugee bureau now largely will focus on efforts to 'return illegal aliens to their country of origin or legal status.' The funds came from Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) overseen by the Bureau of Population, Refugee and Migration. Its website says its mission is to "reduce illegal immigration," aid people "fleeing persecution, crisis or violence and seek durable solutions for forcibly displaced people." Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, citing the law authorizing the funding, said in a May 7 Federal Register notice that underwriting the repatriation of people without legal status will bolster the "foreign policy interests" of the U.S. He did not mention the $250 million transfer to DHS. The DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump's administration is working to speed up deportations in a crackdown that the Republican president vowed during the 2024 campaign would expel millions of people illegally in the U.S. It has encouraged migrants to leave voluntarily by threatening steep fines and deporting migrants to notorious prisons in Guantanamo Bay and El Salvador. But the volume of deportations since he took office in January appears to be less than those overseen by his predecessor Joe Biden in the February-May period of 2024, about 200,000 people versus 257,000. On May 9, Trump announced Project Homecoming, an initiative overseen by DHS that offers $1,000 stipends and travel assistance to migrants who "self-deport." DHS said in a May 19 news release that 64 people had "opted to self deport" to Honduras and Colombia on a charter flight under the program. Some experts said that while legal, sending the money to DHS for deportation operations was an unprecedented use of MRA funds. The main purpose of the funds historically has been "to provide refugee and displacement assistance, refugee processing and resettlement to the U.S., and respond to urgent and emerging humanitarian crises - not to return those very people to the harm or persecution they fled,' said Meredith Owen Edwards, senior director of Policy and Advocacy at the Refugee Council USA.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Iran to send Russia launchers for short-range missiles, sources say
By Jonathan Landay and Jonathan Saul WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) - Iran is preparing to deliver in the near future launchers for short-range ballistic missiles that the U.S. said Tehran sent to Russia last year for use against Ukraine, according to two Western security officials and a regional official. The delivery of the Fath-360 launchers - if it occurs - would help support Russia's grinding assault on its neighbor and reaffirm the deepening security ties between Moscow and Tehran. With a 75-mile (120-km) range, the Fath-360 would give Moscow's forces a new weapon to fire at Ukrainian frontline troops, nearby military targets, and population centers close to the border with Russia, analysts said. The U.S. last September said that Iran delivered the missiles to Russia on nine Russian-flagged ships - which it sanctioned - and three sources told Reuters at that time that the launchers were not included. The Western security officials and the regional official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the delivery of the Fath-360 launchers was imminent. They declined to provide further details of the pending transfer, including why they thought the launchers were not delivered with the missiles. Russia's defense ministry and Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The U.S. National Security Council referred inquiries to the State Department, which did not respond immediately. The CIA declined comment. Russia and Iran have previously denied that Tehran had shipped the missiles or any other arms to aid the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that Moscow launched in February 2022. U.S., Ukrainian and European officials say Iran has provided Russia thousands of drones and artillery shells. In an apparent reference to the Fath-360s, U.S. Army General Christopher Cavoli, the commander of U.S. Central Command, last month told U.S. lawmakers that Iran had donated to Russia more than 400 short-range ballistic missiles. There have been no public reports of Iran transferring any other kinds of short-range ballistic missiles to Moscow or of Russian forces using the Fath-360. POSSIBLE COMPLICATION FOR PEACE TALKS Russia's deployment of the missiles could complicate U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to arrange a ceasefire and peace talks between Ukraine and Russia and to strike a separate deal with Iran to curb its nuclear program. The regional official said that the indirect U.S.-Iran nuclear talks mediated by Oman are among "several reasons" for the delayed delivery of the launchers. The talks have encountered turbulence, although Iran on Friday said it agreed to hold a fourth round in Oman on Sunday. Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said that Iranian officials would consider the issue of sending arms to Russia as separate from the nuclear talks. "That the Iranians are negotiating on nuclear issues with the U.S. will not be seen as connected to what they might do in collaboration with the Russians," he said. Analysts said there could have been another complication: Iran had to modify European-made commercial trucks on which to mount the launchers for its own Fath-360 arsenal, and it may have had to do the same for Russia given its massive losses of vehicles in Ukraine. With the launchers, Russia will be able to increase pressure on Ukraine, said the experts. "It would be much easier (for Russian forces) to launch a strike much faster ... against high-value targets," said Fabian Hinz, a research fellow with the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "They (Fath-360s) don't need a lot of launch preparations. Their flight time is incredibly short." Deploying the Fath-360 could allow Russia to reserve its more advanced missiles, like the Iskander, for longer-range strikes at critical infrastructure, including the power grid, straining Ukraine's precious missile defenses, the analysts said. The Fath-360 "is designed to be handled and operated by people with relatively little training," said Ralph Savelsberg, an associate professor at the Netherlands Defense Academy. "Why would they (Russia) buy inferior Iranian missiles? The only reason I could think of is that they cannot produce a sufficient number of their own missiles," he said. "They're not super accurate and they don't carry a very large payload. But it just adds to Ukraine's headaches."
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Iran fortifying buried nuclear sites as talks with US continue, report says
By Jonathan Landay WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran is ringing two deeply buried tunnel complexes with a massive security perimeter linked to its main nuclear facility, a report said Wednesday, amid U.S. and Israeli threats of attack. The Institute for Science and International Security released its report based on recent satellite imagery as the U.S. and Iran prepare to hold a third round of talks this weekend on a possible deal to reimpose restraints on Tehran's nuclear program. U.S. President Donald Trump, who pulled the U.S. out of a 2015 pact designed to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, has threatened to bomb Iran unless a deal is quickly reached that would ensure that same goal. Trump's withdrawal prompted Iran to breach many of the pact's restraints. Western powers suspect it is pursuing the capability to assemble a nuclear weapon, which Tehran denies. David Albright, the institute president, said the new perimeter suggested that the tunnel complexes, under construction beneath Mt. Kolang Gaz La for several years, could become operational relatively soon. Tehran has not allowed U.N. nuclear inspectors access to the complexes, Albright said. That has raised concerns that they could be used to store Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium or undeclared nuclear materials, and advanced centrifuges that could quickly purify enough uranium for a bomb, he said. Iran has said that advanced centrifuges would be assembled in one complex in place of a facility at the nearby Natanz plant, the centerpiece of its nuclear program, destroyed by sabotage in 2020. The complexes, Albright said, are being built at depths much greater than Iran's deeply buried uranium enrichment facility at Fordow, near the holy city of Qom. Commercial satellite images taken on March 29 showed hardened entrances to the complexes, high wall panels erected along the verges of a graded road encircling the mountain peak, and excavations for the installation of more panels, the report said. The north side of the perimeter joins the Natanz plant security ring, it said. The ongoing construction at the complexes appears to underscore Tehran's rejection of demands that any talks with the U.S. lead to the total dismantlement of its nuclear program, saying it has the right to peaceful nuclear technology. Israel has not ruled out a strike on Tehran's nuclear facilities in coming months, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that any talks must lead to the complete dismantlement of Iran's nuclear program. Iran's nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami, referring to concerns about the vulnerability of the country's nuclear program, on Tuesday appeared to refer to projects such as the construction of the new security perimeter around the tunnel complexes. "Efforts are ongoing" to "expand protective measures" at nuclear facilities, Eslami was quoted by Iranian state media as saying at an event marking the anniversary of the establishment of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration proposes scrapping UN peacekeeping funding
By Jonathan Landay and Humeyra Pamuk WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House budget office has proposed eliminating funding for United Nations peacekeeping missions, citing failures by operations in Mali, Lebanon and Democratic Republic of Congo, according to internal planning documents seen by Reuters. Washington is the U.N.'s largest contributor - with China second - accounting for 22% of the $3.7 billion core regular U.N. budget and 27% of the $5.6 billion peacekeeping budget. These payments are mandatory. The proposed peacekeeping cuts are included in a so-called "Passback," the response by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to State Department funding requests for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins on October 1. The overall plan wants to slash the State Department budget by about half. The new budget must be approved by Congress, and lawmakers could decide to restore some or all of the funding the administration has proposed cutting. The State Department was due to respond to the OMB proposal on Tuesday. During U.S. President Donald Trump's first term he proposed cutting about a third of diplomacy and aid budgets. But Congress, which sets the federal government budget, pushed back on Trump's proposal. "There is no final plan, final budget," State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters on Tuesday when asked about the OMB proposals. The OMB has proposed ending Contributions for International Peacekeeping Activities (CIPA). "For example, Passback provides no funding for CIPA, ending contributions for international peacekeeping due to the recent failures in peacekeeping, such as with MINUSMA, UNIFIL, and MONUSCO, and the disproportionately high level of assessments," according to an excerpt from the Passback. U.S. IN ARREARS The United Nations peacekeeping budget funds nine missions in Mali, Lebanon, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Western Sahara, Cyprus, Kosovo, between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Abyei, an administrative area that is jointly run by South Sudan and Sudan. The OMB Passback also proposed the creation of a $2.1 billion America First Opportunities Fund (A1OF), which it said would be used to cover a limited set of foreign economic and development assistance priorities. "Should the Administration seek to pay any assessments for the United Nations Regular Budget or peacekeeping assessments, we would look to provide that funding from the A1OF," read the OMB Passback. U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Tuesday declined to comment on "what appears to be a leaked memo that is part of an internal debate within the U.S. government." The U.S. owes - for arrears and the current fiscal year - nearly $1.5 billion for the regular U.N. budget and nearly $1.2 billion for the peacekeeping budget. A country can be up to two years in arrears before facing the possible repercussion of losing its vote in the 193-member General Assembly. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last month said he is seeking ways to improve efficiency and cut costs as the world body turns 80 this year amid a cash crisis. (Additional reporting and writing by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Don Durfee and Sonali Paul)
