Background Press Call on the Joint Statement from the Leaders of the United States, Egypt, and Qatar

Via Teleconference

MODERATOR:  Good afternoon, everyone.  Thanks so much for joining today’s call.  As a reminder, this call is on background, attributable to a senior administration official.

On the call today, for your awareness, not for reporting, we have [senior administration official].  He’ll have a few words at the top, and then we’ll take a few of your questions.

With that, [senior administration official], we’ll turn it over to you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Hi, everybody.  Thanks for joining.  I want to briefly just give some background on the statement that we just released with President Biden, together with his counterparts in Egypt, President el-Sisi, and in Qatar, with the Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim.

Just to go through a bit of the tick-tock from the week:

Obviously, on Monday, the President spoke with King Abdullah of Jordan and then had a very in-depth discussion, the President and the Vice President, with the national security team and our military team, with Lloyd Austin and General Kurilla calling in from the region, to just review the military deployments to the region in preparation for the potential defense of Israel given a potential attack from Iran or Hezbollah or anyone else. 

And then on Tuesday, the President had discussions — and again, in-depth discussions — with Tamim and with President Sisi.  And both of those discussions really delved into the hostage process, because we are the three mediators in this process. 

And out of that — out of those calls came that very constructive proposal to issue a joint statement from the leaders.  And both Qatar and Egypt believed this would be very useful, as they’re working on the Hamas side, and the Israelis were also very receptive to this.  And, in fact, I think the Prime Minister’s office has already put out a statement welcoming this initiative from the Israel side. 

Today, we met with the President in the Oval Office, together with Secretary Austin, again, to just review our military deployments, which are ongoing and quite significant and substantial.  And we released a statement here about an hour or so ago, which you’ve probably seen.

I think, obviously, a statement from three leaders is unusual but it’s, we think, significant.  These three leaders have been involved in this hostage negotiation, ceasefire agreement negotiation now for some months.  And as the statement says, there’s a framework agreement that is on the table with, really, the details of implementation that are left to conclude.  I think you’re all very well familiar with the scope of this agreement, which we’ve discussed before. 

The statement emphasizes the urgency that there’s really no further time to waste or excuses from any party for further delay.  And the statement also, I think, significantly says: As mediators, if it’s necessary, we’re prepared to present, between the three of us, a final bridging proposal to really resolve the remaining implementation issues in the manner that we think would meet the expectations of all the parties and help bring this to a conclusion.

So, the statement calls on both sides to resume these discussions on Thursday of next week, either in Doha or Cairo, as we work through the week.  And I think we’ll likely begin preparatory talks to really kind of build up to that probably here fairly soon.

Of course, in the background we are dealing with the broader situation in the region — as I mentioned, the preparation for defense should an attack come.  I think we are — we’ve done an awful lot over the last week, which you’re probably familiar with, and I know my Pentagon colleagues have been doing briefings on this throughout the week. 

So with that, I’m happy to take any questions.  But again, I appreciate taking the time to provide some background on the statement we just issued — President Biden and together with his counterparts from Egypt and Qatar. 

So, over for questions. 

MODERATOR:  Thanks, [senior administration official].  Our first question will go to the line of Michael Gordon.

Q    Thank you.  Have these three parties ever previously presented a bridging proposal, in whole or in part, to advance negotiations?  How unusual a step would that be?  Has such a proposal already been drafted in anticipation of the difficulties (inaudible)?  And at what point will it be presented, given the urgency of moving forward with an Iran attack hovering over all of this?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Thanks, Michael.  Good question.  I think over the course of this negotiation, on specific issues from time to time we have come up with bridging arrangements, bridging proposals.  I think what’s left here are really the implementation issues of the deal.  It has to do with the sequencing of the exchange and some other issues that are complicated.  But we believe there’s enough trade space that with a proposal, and I think having a proposal that’s unified between the three mediators, can be quite powerful.

So the statement says, you know, should that be necessary.  And we’re going to see how the week goes and the days building up to the meeting next week go. 

And again, I just want to create expectations here.  It’s not like the agreement is going to be ready to be signed on Thursday.  There’s still a significant amount of work to do, but we do believe that what’s left here really can be bridged, and there’s really just no time to lose.  And so, that was the initiative from the leaders, and we’re going to do all we can to build on it.

MODERATOR:  Next up, we’ll go to Felicia Schwartz.

Q    Thanks.  Two from me.  Have you heard anything new from Israel in the past few days to suggest that they are willing to be more flexible or actually bring this over the finish line? 

And then, just secondly, I’m wondering what the gist of the messages you’ve passed to Iran to avoid a massive retaliation is, and whether you see this statement as giving them some sort of off-ramp.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  We’ve been in fairly in-depth discussions with the Israelis, I think throughout the past week, from the President’s call on Thursday to, actually, I just got off the phone with a number of my Israeli counterparts.

And again, we do think there’s a way forward here.  And I would just emphasize it’s incumbent upon not just the Israeli side but also the Hamas side.  At the end of the day, this is a hostage negotiation.  They’re holding hostages.

And we’re going to need some things from the Israelis.  We’re going to need some things from the Hamas side, through the Qataris and the Egyptians — it’s how this works — to try to bring this to resolution. 

But we think, you know, the bulk of the work has been done, and the deal is really there.  And with some force of will and sitting down to hash it out, we think it is both possible, urgent, necessary, essential — whatever word you want to use. 

So we are determined to do all that we possibly can, recognizing that lives are on the line.  And, you know, this is about getting hostages out.  It’s also about a ceasefire in Gaza and significant relief to Gazans, everything else that we’ve talked about throughout these many weeks here.

On the Iranians, I am not going to talk about our messaging to the Iranians.  I’ll just say we see there’s absolutely no legitimate basis whatsoever for Iran to launch a military attack against Israel, which it continues to threaten.  But, you know, we will be prepared for any contingency, and I think we’re just continuing to work through that. 

But we have moved an awful lot of military force into the region, including F-22s that arrived today.  So, you know, we’re going to be ready for all contingencies. 

But I just — there’s been, kind of, a sense out there that somehow, well, Iran now has the right to attack Israel militarily.  And we completely reject that logic.  I think the consequences of such a direct attack could be quite significant, including for Iran and Iran’s economy and everything else, which I know they have a new government they’re concerned about. 

So we’re doing all we can to deter such an attack, to defeat an attack if it comes, and also to demonstrate to Iran there’s a better path forward here than a military attack.  So, we’ll see.  I think they’re having their own deliberations.  I can’t speak for them.

MODERATOR:  Next up, we’ll go to Barak Ravid.

Q    Hi.  Thank you.  Thank you for doing this.  So, you said that the gaps are bridgeable, but at least from everything I know, the gaps are big.  I would even say very big.  What makes you think that by pushing both sides with this deadline and pushing them into this you can get a deal and not get an explosion?

And the second question — and a second question: What makes you think that Prime Minister Netanyahu — that just in recent days said again that he will not give up on his new conditions; that he (inaudible) up his previous conditions — will be ready to make this deal?  Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  So, I think — again, the statement says very clearly: It calls on both sides to resume urgent discussions beginning next week, on Thursday. 

And as I think I mentioned in the beginning, there will be preparatory work leading to that.  But also, it’s not like on Thursday we’re going to sit in a room and sign the deal.  There’s work to be done.  And both sides have positions on about four or five issues.  And actually, both sides have very firm positions.  And if you just look at them, they might be unbridgeable, but you treat each issue one by one.  And with each one, there’s some trade space so you can kind of find a way forward. 

We’re fairly confident — and I base this on our consultations not only with the Israelis, but also the Egyptians and the Qataris — that there’s a way forward here.  But also, more importantly, there needs to be a way forward here.  We have lives on the line, particularly the hostages, and we have to get these hostages out.  And it’s time to close this.  That is the President’s very firm view.  He’s made that very clear, both to Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel, but also to his counterparts in Cairo and Doha, who are either mediators or guarantors on the Hamas side. 

So you’re asking a fair question, Barak, but I think we — you know, we see the importance and the urgency and the possibility.  And to get this process back on track was the desire and intent of the leaders in Qatar and Egypt, and it’s shared by the President.  And so, following up those calls and consultations with the Israelis, we thought this was the time for this initiative, and we look forward to the meetings next week.

MODERATOR:  And we’re tight on time, so we have time for one more question.  And we’ll go to the line of Trevor Hunnicutt.

Q    Hey.  Thanks for doing this.  So just to put a finer point on the Iran stuff, has there been any communication from Iran suggesting that it would hold off on retaliating against Israel if this deal is agreed?

And is part of the hope here to get Israel to agree to this deal by getting those assurances from Iran?  Is that an element of this?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  No, this is not — this statement is not tied to the larger picture and the situation.  This is about: We need to get this deal done for all the reasons I’ve stated.  And the call the President had with Sisi and Sheikh Tamim, I think that was the consensus.

Iran has stated publicly — I think their ambassador up in New York has said if there’s a ceasefire in Gaza, you know, so that — if it influences them, that’s fine.  I would say one thing: If they launch a major war in the Middle East with some massive attack on Israel, which they’re threatening in coordination with other groups, well, that’s obviously going to significantly jeopardize any hope of getting a ceasefire in Gaza, because we’ll very much be focused on other things.

But, no, this statement that came out tonight came out of the President’s consultations with his counterparts.  And, you know, we thought the time was right, and we’ll be doing a lot of work here between now and Thursday. 

And then, just to reemphasize the point I made with Barak’s question: Thursday is resuming a process with some urgency and with the full input of the mediators from the leader level on down.  We’re not anticipating the deal being ready to close on Thursday.  There’s still some — a lot of work here to be done, but we think getting this moving later next week will be helpful and constructive, and we’re going to do all we can as a mediator and a guarantor to try to get this done, just given the urgency and with lives on the line.

MODERATOR:  Sorry we couldn’t get to everyone’s questions, but that’s all the time we have.  If you have anything further, feel free to reach out to us, and we’ll get back to you. 

Thanks, everyone, for joining.  And as a reminder, this call was on background to a senior administration official.  Thanks, all.

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