Exit Mike Pompeo, hello Antony Blinken.

Joe Biden has appointed the French speaker at the head of American foreign policy.

Confirmed Tuesday, January 26 by the Senate, the new Secretary of State should not initiate a revolution in relations with the Middle East, even if he has promised a "review" of the various decisions of Donald Trump.

"The world is watching us attentively," he reassured after a brief induction ceremony.

"The world needs American leadership, and we will guarantee it, because the world is much more likely to solve its problems and face its challenges when the United States responds."

Iranian nuclear power, arms sales, peace agreement with the Taliban and relations with the Israeli ally… Antony Blinken has promised an inventory of the Trump years to review United States foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East.

• The Iran puzzle

The future of the Iranian nuclear deal, from which Donald Trump withdrew Washington in 2018, promises to be one of the priorities of the new US administration on the international scene.

Antony Blinken has been careful to procrastinate: "President Biden has made it very clear that if Iran again fully meets its commitments" in the 2015 agreement, "the United States will follow suit. Iran has ceased to respect its commitments on several fronts ", underlined the new head of diplomacy.

"It will take some time, if Iran makes this decision, to get back on track, and it will also take time for us to be able to assess whether it is meeting its obligations. We are far from it, to say the least. one could say. "

On the Iranian side, we welcome the arrival of Joe Biden and Antony Blinken, even if we expect concrete actions from the new American administration: "Here, we consider that Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo have joined the trash cans of history ", says Siavosh Ghazi, correspondent of France 24 in Tehran.

"Iran expects concrete gestures from Joe Biden. Not only the return to the agreement but first the lifting of economic sanctions. This would allow Iran to export its oil again and to of air economically. "

Le Débat de France 24 - Thursday, January 21, 2021 © France 24

40:40

Antony Blinken has remained vague on how he plans to solve this puzzle.

He met Wednesday with his French, British and German counterparts, very attached to the Vienna agreement.

The agreement supposed to prevent Iran from acquiring the atomic bomb was concluded in 2015. But three years later, the former Republican president had slammed the door, judging that it was insufficient to stem "activities destabilizing "of the Islamic Republic in the Middle East.

• Arms sales

Washington "is temporarily suspending certain ongoing transfers and sales of US defense equipment," "to allow the new leaders to review them, the State Department said on Wednesday. This measure targets Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in particular.

This is "to ensure that arms sales by the United States meet our strategic objectives," said an official to AFP, referring to "a routine administrative measure typical of most transitions" .

The announcement is notable, however, as it relates in part to precision munitions promised to Saudi Arabia, and F-35s sold to the United Arab Emirates in exchange for the Gulf country's recognition of the State of Israel - according to an agreement reached in the final months of the Trump presidency.

• Yemen, "worst humanitarian crisis"

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are engaged in a coalition - led by Riyadh - to support the government of Yemen in the conflict between it and the Houthi rebels, backed by Iran.

Antony Blinken pledged last week to "end" American support for this coalition, accused of numerous blunders against Yemeni civilians.

He said on Wednesday that she had "contributed to what is often considered the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today."

The new Secretary of State wants to remove, "in a very urgent way", the Houthis from the American blacklist of "terrorist organizations".

The inclusion on this list, decreed by the Trump administration less than ten days before the end of its mandate, is criticized from all sides because it risks hampering the delivery of humanitarian aid in the vast territories controlled by the rebels.

• The pursuit of normalization of the Arab world with Israel

These decisions reflect a significant change in the balance of American alliances, as the Saudi kingdom was, with Israel, the essential pillar of Donald Trump's anti-Iran policy.

"It is likely that the movement to normalize Arab countries with Israel spurred by Donald Trump will continue. The US administration has already said that Jerusalem will remain the capital and the US embassy will remain in Jerusalem. There will be no unraveling." , analysis Gwendoline Debono, correspondent of France 24 in Jerusalem.

"What can change is the pace of normalization. It could slow down but should continue: we are talking about Oman, Indonesia as well as Saudi Arabia."

Benjamin Netanyahu liked to repeat that Donald Trump was the "best friend" the State of Israel has ever had in the White House, but the prime minister spoke of "a warm friendship dating back decades" with Democrat Joe Biden after his investiture.

The media outlet The Conversation also recalls that support for Israel is a constant in the personal journey of Vice-President Kamala Harris.

The historic normalization of relations with the Hebrew state won in extremis by Donald Trump with the Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan was "applauded" by Antony Blinken.

But he warned when taking office that he had already started to "look" at the "commitments" made by Washington to wrest these agreements, in order to have "an exhaustive understanding".

The suspension of sales of precision ammunition could, however, call into question the recognition of Israel by Saudi Arabia.

E

• In Afghanistan, a peace agreement to be reviewed?

Another burning issue that Antony Blinken is taking over: the peace agreement signed with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

According to this text signed on February 29 in Qatar, the insurgents undertake to no longer allow "terrorist" organizations like Al-Qaeda to operate from the territories they control, and to negotiate directly, for the first time. , with the government of Kabul in the hope of achieving peace.

In exchange, the US military must withdraw completely from the country by mid-2021.

Like Donald Trump, Joe Biden favors an end to this war and the departure of American soldiers, but he has repeatedly said that he wants to maintain a small counterterrorism force - which could be seen as a breach of the agreement by the Taliban.

Antony Blinken recalled that several parts of this text had not been made public.

We need to understand what exactly is in the agreements that have been made between the United States and the Taliban, to have a full understanding of the commitments made by the Taliban as well as the commitments that we have made, "he said. -he says.

The only certainty is that the American envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, appointed by Donald Trump, will remain in office under the administration of Joe Biden.

Its work is generally praised by diplomats and specialists in this conflict.

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