and directed Media Company Rosia seoda and five of its subsidiaries including RT under the foreign missions act as a result these actors are now required to notify the state department of all Personnel working in the United States as well as their property we took these steps based on our conclusion that Rosia seoda and these five subsidiaries are no longer beely fire hoses of Russian government propaganda and disinformation they are engaged in covert influence activities aimed at undermining American elections and democracies functioning like a de facto arm of Russia's intelligence apparatus today we're announcing that these Kremlin back media Outlets are not only uh playing this covert influence role to undermine democracy in the United States but also to meddle in The Sovereign Affairs of countries around the world thanks to new information much of which originates from RT employees we know that RT possess cyber capabilities and and engaged in covert information and influence operations and Military procurement as part of RT's expanded capabilities the Russian government embedded within RT a unit with cyber operational capabilities and ties to Russian intelligence RT's leadership had Direct witting knowledge of this Enterprise Russian government actors Incorporated the Cyber capabilities of this unit within RT in the spring of 2023 which is focused primarily on cover influence operations around the the world under the cover of RT information produced through this unit uh flows to Russian intelligence Services Russian media Outlets Russian mercenary groups and other state and proxy arms of the Russian government one of its projects is a large online crowdfunding program in Russia operating within RT and through social media channels to provide support and military equipment supplies weapons to Russian military units in Ukraine this includes sniper rifles suppressors body armor night vision equipment drones radio equipment personal weapon sites diesel generators while the crowdfunding campaign is out in the open what's hidden is that this program is administered by the leaders of RT last week our government revealed how RT launders information operations through unwitting Americans to covertly de tremin produced content and messaging to the American public today we're exposing how Russia deploys similar tactics around the world in Germany for example RT covertly runs the berlin-based English language platform red a successor to the now defunct RT link platform redfish RT also secretly runs the online platform African stream across a wide range of social media platforms now according to the Outlet's website African stream is an i quote a pan-african digital media organization based exclusively on social media platforms focusing on giving a voice to all Africans both at home and abroad in reality The only voice it gives is to Kremlin propagandists RT's expanded covert capabilities allow it to deepen coordination with traditional Russian intelligence Services as they work to manipulate the outcome of democratic elections in the United States but also around the world for years RT and its employees have coordinated directly with the Kremlin to support Russian government efforts to influence moldova's elections including the October 2024 presidential election RT's leadership has leveraged Russian state funded and directed media platforms to attempt to ferment unrest in mova likely with the aim of causing protests to turn violent We Believe RT will almost certainly leverage its expanded covert capabilities to coordinate with Russian intelligence services to try to manipulate the outcome of moldova's upcoming election as a result of these findings today we're imposing sanctions on three entities and two individuals for Russia's covert Global influence operations including interference in moldova's democracy and its upcoming elections the actions we're exposing today and the actions we exposed last week do not uh uh incorporate the full scope of Russia's efforts to undermine democracies far from it rep Russian weaponization disinformation to subvert and polarize free and open societies extends to every part of the world in response today the United States the United Kingdom and Canada are launching launching a joint diplomatic campaign to Rally allies and partners around the world to join us in addressing the threat posed by RT and other Machinery of Russian disinformation and covert influence under the uh using excuse me the internet intelligence diplomacy uh has become a Hallmark of our Administration uh I've instructed us diplomats around the world to share the evidence that we've gathered on RT's expanded capabilities and the ways it's being used to Target individual countries and the information ecosystem that we share now each government of course is going to decide how it responds to this uh threat but we urge every Ally every partner to start by treating RT's activities as they do other intell activities by Russia within their borders now let me be very clear the United States respects and champions freedom of expression even when it comes to Media Outlets that wittingly spread government propaganda and will continue to lead the world in defending and promoting media freedom but we will not stand by as RT and other actors carry out covert activities in support of Russia's nefarious activities and will'll continue to respond forcefully to moscow's Playbook of aggression and subversion one that includes invading Sovereign Nations fomenting coups weaponizing corruption carrying out assassinations meddling in elections and unjustly detaining foreign Nationals the great US Supreme Court Justice lewi brandise once said as is well known sunlight is the best disinfectant RT wants its new covert intelligence capabilities like its long-standing propaganda and disinformation efforts to remain hidden our most powerful antidote to Russia's lies is the truth it's shining a bright light on what the Kremlin is trying to do under the cover of Darkness taking action together with our allies and partners to address this threat to our democracies is an effective way of pushing back and today we're taking an important step in that direction uh one final related note uh on a more uplifting subject um a little bit earlier today I had the opportunity to sit down with Evan gersich um first time I've had a chance to see him since he was freed uh we were joined by one of his colleagues from The Wall Street Journal which was such a tenacious Champion along with his family in pressing for Evan's release I know uh a number of you know Evan uh anyone who knows him can attest to this he's incredibly warm he's got a great sense of humor but maybe the most striking part of of spending time with Evan is simply how wonderful it feels to see him free home where he belongs um I also keep returning the fact that Evan on the form that Russia forced him to fill out before he was released asked for an interview with Vladimir Putin always on the job we make a lot of great things in this country but one of the greatest things we make is our journalists their professionalism your professionalism the unshakable commitment to seeking the truth is a service not only to our people and our democracy it's a service to the entire world Evans freedom is also a reminder of all Americans who are still held hostage or wrongfully detained and as I said when we first secured the release of Evan of Paul of ALU and others for them and for their families uh those who remain detained there are tough days uh when they will question if they ever get their freedom back uh my pledge to them is the same one that I made to to Evan and to the dozens of other Americans whose release we've secured these last few years we've not forgotten you we will not forget you and we will not rest until we get you home where you belong thanks very much okay for the Run of show uh we have a couple of officials here Jim O'Brien who is the assistant secretary for the Bureau of European and EUR Asian Affairs and Jamie Rubin the director of the global engagement Center who will take questions uh about the announcement the secretary just made and then at the end of that if you have any other remaining questions which I'm sure you won't about the rest of the world I'm happy to come back up and and take some of those so thank you m ask us a question go ahead thanks for doing this I just just to be clear I mean what exactly is new from 10 days ago or not even 10 is when doj announced and and yourselves announced a whole these series of sanctions against RT against the the group company the rodia uh what exactly is different shall I start today and the reason why the secretary would come out and Yeah and speak about this is about the rest of the world so last week was very focused on activities in the US here we're talking about covert activities attempting to subvert democracy and manipulate information environments in the rest of the world and um Jamie may have some examples of this but I just want to call attention to one of the sentences the secretary said he's instructed diplomats globally to share information we have about what Russia is doing and to engage with our partners in trying to remove this threat to democracy and accurate information around the globe so part of what we will be doing picking up from this is to engage globally and systematically with our partners over time to keep going at the structure Russia's built to influence operations around the world and so you'll see more of this over time as we work and we'll be working with our partners this whole initiative began um with the secretary speaking with a number of our partners the EU as you know has banned RT from functioning in Europe um he spoke with the Canadian foreign minister and with uh Minister Lamy in Great Britain when he was there earlier this week and they've indicated a strong interest in being Partners on this and we will work with more and more countries over time to address this so that's the main difference domestic now global let me just add a couple of points to to what Jim said first of all you'll get a fact sheet you'll see a lot of detail you'll see incredible detail about the way in which RT has become a clearing house for a set of covert operations covert influence activities intelligence operations de facto in country after country after country there's an example in Argentina where they're uh uh trying to uh affect government policy there's an a threat in the South caucuses where they will use these tools to affect governments there there are examples in France there are examples in Germany now you may not find it uh dramatic but in order for us to uh uh launch a diplomatic campaign around the world uh first you saw what I think most of us would agree was pretty dramatic here in the United States the rest of the world saw that and now we're saying to them this is what can happen to you unless you tow the Russian line they're going to use all of these tools under the mask of a thing called Rosia sna and the sanctions that were imposed that you'll see in the fact sheet are the strongest possible sanctions this government puts on they're full uh as Jim would know better blocking Financial sanctions so uh we're exposing what they do in country after country around the world we're using a strong uh sanction tool but remember sanctions are a tool they're not a goal what's the goal the goal is for the rest of the world and remember you've asked question for Matt for months and months about you know the global South and why there's not more support for Ukraine in this part of the Middle East or that part of Latin America or this part of Africa well one of the reasons not the only reason but one of the reasons why so much of the world has not uh been as fully supportive of Ukraine as you would think they would be given that Russia has invaded Ukraine and violated rule number one of the International System is because of the broad scope and reach of RT where propaganda disinformation and lies are spread to Millions if not billions of people around the world what we're asking and what we're going to do and Jim has warned me against this but I'm going to do it anyway is to use an analogy okay it's only an analogy it's not a precise comparison when uh the last Administration decided to go after uh the Huawei Company for the risk of Intelligence being drawn out of a legal telephone instrument we took a look at that campaign uh before we launched this we tried to learn some lessons from it to try to help us figure out what's the best way over time to make countries around the world see the value uh and the danger of of of uh RT which is technically a legal instrument a television station despite the lies and disinformation it's broadcasting that has within it and now we've shown you and we'll show you in the fact sheet and in the things that I just said covert operations covert intelligence activities acting as if they were a direct arm of the government and now here's the fun part they've admitted it go look at what the leader of uh uh of RT has said they have said said they are operating under direct instruction of Vladimir Putin that's what they say they're doing and they're we're saying they're fully integrated into the intelligence operations of the Russian government and that's a big difference than our state-funded media believe you me no one in this building gets to tell anyone at vaa RF or RL what to say do or write they ask us questions and we answer them that's the difference between a state-funded media organization and a democracy and one in an authoritarian government uh the leader of RT has admitted that that's what she does and they do and we've now given you enormous examples of how dangerous it is around the world and I sure hope it meets your definition of something new the crowdfunding effort that was uh announced today that was directed at a domestic Russian audience and was it on Russian platforms is there any indication that this was on any us-owned platforms my my understanding of that is it's on Russian platforms but is run by RT uh secretly they don't say this this is an RT operation send uh by uh uavs from and some of that we discovered were uh uavs purchased from the People's Republic of China in small amounts to send to the uh to the Russian army so that's not what a TV station normally does that's what that's what a military uh uh entity does and it's just another example of what we're trying to show you that it is not just a a fire hose as the secretary put it of disinformation but a fully fledged member of the intelligence operatus and operation uh uh of the Russian government on the war in Ukraine all right Nick and then Kylie um you guys uh have sorry the secretary highlighted the first sentence of the fact sheet new information much of which originates from RT employees that language goes beyond with the Department of Justice said last week you talk about some of the sourcing on this information and then on the crowdfunding program uh how do you know that that's not just the RT Deputy editor and chief helping zealously the soldiers he believes are actually defending Russia um how do you know it goes beyond that and the PRC stuff is that just dual use or are you alleging that those are PRC weapons that actually went to Russian soldiers via RT than I'll try uh that's a tough question and you know it's a tough question normally uh unless you work over in Langley or in other intelligence uh Lo facilities of this government we don't normally tell you how we know something um uh suffice it to say as secretary blinkin pointed to one of the Hallmarks of this Administration as you may have seen in Time Magazine is the ability of uh uh our national security adviser our director of the CIA and the Director of National Intelligence to downgrade information related to the war in Ukraine and how remarkable that was and how remarkable it's been and how remarkable it will continue to be uh suffice it to say that at the gec I work with all members of this government uh I have military team I have an intelligence team I have State Department officials and I have teams from other part of the government this is government information you can draw your own conclusions as to how much more specific but I think what the secretary was pointing to is that some of these things have been admitted themselves by the leaders of RT and that doesn't mean that just because someone admitted something it's not new information because it's new when it's put in its proper context and that's the word that we officials love that you guys generally don't love because allows us to go on too long but but more seriously the RT's leadership in its most recent interview has acknowledged that their job is to do what the Kremlin tells them to do and we're giving you examples of what they're telling them to do that have nothing to do with broadcasting even broadcasting lies and disinformation on the way on the the weapons yeah so the significant thing so I just say in short no we're not going to tell you more than the secretary said on who said what um the um on the weapons China is a major supplier much of the crowdsourcing the thing that's significant is it was done covertly so it was wasn't just some you know employees putting on a a ton and it was done covertly so they could purchase in some cases yes individual arms um so in this case we have no indication that China knew that this was being directed by the Russian government um or that the end users were Russian soldiers so that that line we have across and and it was Chinese weapons or it sounds like it was like Chinese drones and R&D it's like more dual use the there were some individual soldiers arms involved in the crowd foring some of this equipment has been sourced from the PRC that means that doesn't mean the PRC government knows to include reconnaissance drones made by prc-based entities and R&D support in the production of said drones in coordination with the Russian Ministry of Defense just one quick question on that and then I have another question on the Cyber unit um so is it is it the crowdfunding mechanism that is purchased in uh these weapons sourced from China or is it the Russian government that's using the funds that are collected there to make the purchases yeah we don't know that don't know the answer to that okay um and then the Cyber unit with ties to Russian intelligence embedded in RT in 2023 can you tell us which countries this unit embedded into RT inside of and if you can't list them just an approximate number of countries um where this was an active unit inside of RT um everything about this unit and its activities inside RT is extremely sensitive information and I have to get my facts exactly right and not make a mistake here so bear with me for a second um as I understand it the unit is a cyber intelligence gatherer so it's using cyber tools to gather information and then use that information in some form we've seen in our country and in other countries what happens when cyber units suck up information and then they leak it for example or they use it for other purposes um it's my understanding that this is a global reach type of a capability because remember the thing that makes all of this very very difficult is that the information space is flat it's not like you have to be inside uh Russia or inside China or inside the United States to have an effect on China Russia or the United States and so with the right kind of capabilities sitting in the right location we learned in our country what can happen from some people stand sitting at a beach in Macedonia although there's no beach in Macedonia but inside Macedonia what they did in our country so that's why the geographic point is not as relevant for cyber Espionage and uh is that cyber unit embedded within RT still active at this time I I I can't answer that all right we'll do one more camil um thank you can you give just an idea for in layman's ter a little bit what this looks like the crowdfunding uh I know you said it's in secret and are we talking about like in secret on the dark web space rather than like a public GoFundMe thing can you just help us kind of I will try to get you more information on that um it's always funny when you're preparing this stuff what the thing is that you all decide to focus on and I I never get it right no matter how many years I've been doing this business um I personally don't think that's the most significant part of what RT is doing okay it's just an example of what of how RT is operating as a arm of the government without using its name it's an example of something that's done by cyber the Cyber unit for example but what RT is doing in Argentina in Germany in France in the countries when Jim came back on his from his last trip and there were upcoming elections and they saw the ways in which Russian influence the secretary talked about malova I think that's probably the most important thing where we're seeing clear evidence that the RT is going to be used to try to manipulate an election and if they don't win the election manipulate a crowd to try to generate violence uh for the possibility of overthrowing uh I think that's probably a lot more important than a few scopes for the soldiers in Ukraine we were trying to give you an example and obviously that's the one that you like the most can I ask one that's a bit more topical just for for this week sure so uh the what happened this week with the debate uh with a former president saying something oh well you know I can't talk about that can I just because this is for the GDC as well have you seen any have you seen any evidence you said the team that working with across the inter agency any evidence of cats and dogs stories about pets being eaten that Amplified At All by a forign I haven't seen that I haven't asked my guys to do that we've been pretty busy on trying to get this thing done um this you'd be surprised how much work goes into these efforts and let me just say because uh I think we should get the hook because we're too focused on crowdfunding and cats um uh that that um I want to thank Carrie goo sitting in the back of the room and all the people at the GC this is something that's been put together over many many many weeks and months and a lot of people put their heart and soul into this sort of work to be able to get it available to you in all these details so that you can then question me and Jim about cats and crowdfunding um uh but but this is going to be a long-term campaign and that's the point of the analogy to Huawei that that's something that began under the Trump Administration contended on the Biden Administration we are going to be talking the secretary will be talking the president will be talking assistant secretaries of State like Jim and especially his colleagues in Latin America in Africa and Asia are going to be working with their colleagues to try to show all of those countries that right now broadcast with no uh restriction or control RT uh and allow them free access to their countries which I do believe unfortunately and sadly has had a delerious effect on the uh views of the rest of the world about a war that should be an open and shut case all right thank you you they're playing our music thank you all thank you all right um warning from the top as Matt comes in we're have to make this a rapid fire round because I have a meeting at 2:15 um but uh okay let's get started um Nick you won't want to discuss anything specifically before the president meets with Bri British prime minister so let me try and ask you a question that you can't answer um Ukraine has been arguing as we've been talking about that of the utility of long range fires into Ukraine uh it has cited specific targets it cited an overall idea of how long range fires would fit into the broader strategy of Victory so in general is that a message that the US has been receiving uh and is that a message that will be discussed between uh British officials American officials obviously this week's already been but going forward when it comes to making a decision about so of course we've been having those discussions with our Ukrainian colleagues that's one of the things that the secretary talked about with President zalinski uh with the Prime Minister and with the foreign minister came up in all of his meetings in Ukraine uh two days ago and they're making the case as they have done consistently since the course of this campaign where you've seen different times where they've come to make the case for different capabilities or different tactics or other different ways in which we could support them uh our job always is to listen to the case that they make and then think about uh as you may have heard the secretary say when he got this question I don't know multiple times while he was in the region um both what it is that we can make available to them uh how they can use it uh what the long-term strategy behind using those capabilities would be and then we come back and and um uh discuss that with our colleagues here and ultimately the president makes a decision uh and so um the as you know the secretary had with him the foreign minister David Lamy and uh who I know is accompanying the Prime Minister I'm sure that'll be one of the things uh that'll be discussed in the meeting today I do think um it is important to note that is not the only topic on the agenda today we have a a a long standing bilateral relationship with the United Kingdom there are a number of things to talk about uh in those meetings um Ukraine is an important part of them is it was a large focus of our meetings uh in the UK um uh which secretary traveled to before Ukraine but there are other things we talked about too the war in the Middle East and any other any number of other topics and and uh would a US decision about American longrange weapons would that be made in concert or independently perhaps in a British long range use of fires in cider I don't want to speak to any hypotheticals as of yet we have not changed our policy it's something we discuss with our allies uh it's just something we discuss with our Ukrainian partners and I I um don't have any announcements to make today let me let me go to Matt first something that you'll might actually have be able to answer we can try okay you've seen the the convictions in Congo uh I have okay so you right I I'll send that off to our kassa Bureau yeah we've seen them you have anything to say about so um we have seen that a military Court in the Democratic Republic of Congo sentenced a number of defendants including US citizens to death um for alleged involvement in the May 19th attacks against the government we understand that the legal process in the DRC allows for defendants to appeal the Court's decision uh Embassy staff have been attending these proceedings as they've uh uh gone through the process so far we'll continue to attend the proceedings and follow the developments closely right do you believe the proceedings so far have been fair I don't want to pass judgment on the proceeding so far because we are still in the middle of the legal process they do have the right to appeal we're going to continue and stay to stay engaged in monitoring uh and speaking to the defendants and and their attorneys all right and sticking on core cases um if uh a former I believe former um Diplomatic Security Office officer uh pleaded guilty today charges in January 6th you have any anything to say the only thing I will say about that is we fully support the work by our colleagues at the Department of Justice to hold anyone responsible for violations of law on that horrific day accountable for those violations thank you yeah Julian do you guys have a response to what Putin said yesterday which was basically that if this is a followup on on Ukraine if there were missile strikes You' view that as NATO entering into a direct war with Russia including the US just so a few yeah a few things about that so number one that's very similar to things that he has said over the course of the past two and a half years we've SE seen him make similar statements about uh things that the United States and its allies and partners not all of whom are NATO members some of uh whom are other partners of ours around the world um so it's not really a new statement by President Putin but of course we PID close attention to everything that he says I would say President Putin is the one who could end this war today if he wanted to the only reason we are even having a discussion at all about the provision of American capabilities to Ukraine and the provision of capabilities by our NATO allies and the Coalition of 50 countries that we've assembled around the world to Ukraine is because Putin continues to press this illegal war that he continues to try to forcibly take territory of Ukraine so if the president of Russia doesn't want to have a conversation about what capabilities we provide to Ukraine there's a very easy way to uh get to the end of that conversation that's for him to end this illegal War but do you dispute his I don't of of course it would not be an entering of the United States we have been very clear that um uh the United States is not going to take part in this War uh we're not going to put boots on the ground we are however going to continue to to equip Ukraine so it can defend itself we're going to continue to work with a coalition of countries around the world to help Ukraine defend itself all right now can I just sort of follow up on on on the issue of the British leadership isit I mean how would you characterize how closely aligned you are with the British government position on the issue of long range missiles because it's fairly clear that the British and the French and some others are more sympathetic to president zelinski's pleased to be able to use these weapons inside Russia so how would you define where you know how closely aligned you are with the British on so I don't want to get into the details of both private and ongoing diplomatic conversations especially ahead of a conversation that's going to happen uh here in another hour hour and a half or so uh at the White House I will say that we are very closely aligned with Britain on the overall objectives the uh overall outcome that we want to see you heard the secretary and the foreign minister both speak to that in a press conference in Ukraine we share the exact same objectives and we continue to discuss with them the best way to achieve those objectives the best way to make sure that Ukraine ultimately wins this war that's an ongoing discussion as as the secretary said uh in Ukraine um and I believe as the as the foreign minister said both of us would go back and talk with our respective governments about what we heard from our Ukrainian partners and then we will confer with each other as we confer with our other NATO allies and make decisions based on those uh consultations going forward would you prefer that there was coordination on these permissions I mean if the Europeans are to sort of unilaterally give permission to use their longrange weapons is that something you have a problem with so we will continue to coordinate with them every country ultimately has to make its own decisions about how they want to support Ukraine and that's something that every country has the ability to do but we do consult with each other especially with our close NATO allies ultimately this is an issue that um is something we want to work together on we'll continue to do that Alex thank you much just to press you a little bit on more on Nick's question your response doesn't scream urgency but knowing what you know about Iranian missiles you deliver of Iranian missiles to Russia and the White House said that they're going to be employed within weeks what is the S suggestion to to ukrainians just sit back and wait Alex so you and I have had this debate a number of times before when it comes to any one capability that we might provide and I would urge you as always to take this in a larger context um and look at the overall support that we have provided to Ukraine since day one really since before day one we are providing Ukraine with security assistance before the uh February 24th uh 2022 Invasion and we've continued to provide tens of billions of dollars in assistance and we' have continued to adapt and adjust our capabilities that we provide them and AD ad ad and adjust the assistance that we provide them related to T to to the evolving situation on the Battleground however we're going to be deliberate about that we're going to want to think about how it fit every uh step that we take fits into a long-term strategy and Alex ultimately I would ask that you judge us by our results by our actions and by the overall assistance that we provided and I think our track record in that regard speaks for itself one more because I have limited time one more them move on thanks so much just to clarify what gives you confidence that the air defense system you have provided so far will actually protect them against Iranian drones which will you know hit you know within weeks I'm just saying based on what the White House so you mean Iranian ballistic missiles or Iranian drones Iranian ballistic missiles so we continue to work with them to strengthen their air defense systems we have provided them air defense systems um uh a number of other countries have provided them air defense systems we're going to continue to work to bolster them as well as continue their to bolster their capability to um uh to take on uh uh uh Russian capabilities to launch those attacks in the first place K go ahead just to follow up on on the questions here um how much is uh Russia's procurement of Iran's uh short range military capabilities which frees up their long range capabilities impacting your guys's uh decision making here so it is absolutely something that we take under consideration both for the um strategic purpose that you point out that it does allow Russia to use some of its more long range capabilities to strike fur they don't have to use them at the front lines because they can use these short- range around ballistic missiles they can use them to conduct longterm strikes targeting keev uh targeting potentially Lviv you've seen them targeting civilian infrastructure not military infrastructure with those long-range St strikes so certainly it is something uh that we take into consideration we also take into consideration the fact that is very much an escalation by Russia it's very much an escalation by Iran for them to end uh uh to begin to provide uh these capabilities to Russia so it is absolutely something that we consider uh in making our calculations and and the White House said today that we shouldn't expect any major announcements after the meeting with Biden and prime minister starmer today can you give us some sense of when there might be a final decision on this it's been you know discussed for months now it seems to have come to a boil this week are we looking at next week for a possible announcement on this I I do not want to either preview or put a timetable on any type of announcements other than to say this is something that we have gone through from time to time when you um there uh will be focus on any one particular weapon system or any one particular capability and as always I would just urge you to look at the way that we have consistently handle this which is to be deliberate to be smart and to be strategic and about what um uh what we provide and when we provide it um uh to our Ukrainian Partners okay Janny then a couple more have wrap you may the quick questions Russia is warning of the use of nuclear weapons and North Korean Kim jongan is also ordering the mass production of nuclear nulear weapons North Korea trying to get interfere in the US presiden election how do you predict North Korea and Russia's intervene intervention in the US presiden so we have been made very clear that we oppose any country uh taking steps to interfere in our Democratic process here uh and that we will take steps to hold accountable any country that does so and you've seen us take actions uh in the past North Korea a little bit more relevant you have anything to say about the the uranium no we saw we obviously saw the video it doesn't change our over policy our our overall policy it's a a new video I don't know that it represents any new bless you any new uh uh capability um by the uh North Korean regime we are going to continue to make clear that we will defend our uh uh South Korean and Japanese allies and we'll continue to work for the full denle nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula you think the the seven nuclear test is imminent or just I I I do not want to make any predictions on that g go ahead thank you um on the eve of the anniversary of mas amini's death in Iran and the stord of the woman life Freedom Movement um the UN fact finding Mission has issued a its latest report on the situation of human rights in Iran um in short it says that suppression of women's and girls rights has intensified and it is crushing women's um activism the suggests and I quote states must continue to place the situation of women and girls in the Islamic Republic of Iran high on the international agenda I was wondering what the Biden Administration is doing in this regard sure so uh as you have heard us say before um mamini story did not end with her death she inspired a historic movement that has impacted Iran and influenced people uh across the globe who are advocating for gender equ equality respect for human rights and particularly the respect for human rights inside Iran so uh that report is absolutely right we have seen continued to see a Crackdown on women and women's rights in Iran and I would just say the new president of Iran has uh uh at various times signaled that he wants to change his approach and wants to reach out to the west and have a have a different relationship with the w West there are obviously a number of actions he could take in that regard when it comes to Iran's destabilizing activities outside of its own borders but one of the actions he could take would be to stop the Crackdown on women and women's rights inside Iran's borders all right let me take one more and then I really do have to go CU I have a a meeting with the boss U one question on the killing of Turkish American activist a a recent reports dispute um Israeli account that she was shot accidentally um given the you know what happened with the Shirin Abu ales case uh is I mean uh is the US reconsidering it sance on the Israeli narrative on this and uh is it the US s the US position that that you are waiting for the results of the Israeli in investigation instead of uh launching a USL independent investigation as demanded by by Aisha nur's family yeah let me say this we have uh been briefed on the results of the preliminary investigation by uh the government of Israel and they have told us they are conducting a full uh criminal investigation we are going to wait to pass any judgments about what steps ought to take ought to occur next until we have uh in terms of from an investigative standpoint until we receive the results of that investigation we think they ought to be uh that investigation needs to be thorough it needs to be prompt and it needs to be transparent and then we'll make any uh determinations at the conclusion of that investigation but that said as the secretary said earlier this week even knowing what we know now we know enough to know that the Israeli Security Forces need to make changes in the way that they are operating in the West Bank because you have now seen uh not just one but uh two American citizens killed uh as a result of what the Israeli forces them or the the Israeli forces themselves were fire from you know from uh in this case the IDF so it's very clear that the they do need to make changes in the Rules of Engagement we're going to continue to impress to to press them on that and that I think is a different question um than the the one about the investigation but my point being we know enough now to know that there are changes that need to be made just a quick followup uh what changes do you expect from Israel and what consequences uh will there be any consequences for Israel so for killing US citizen so we want to see changes to the Rules of Engagement first of all with respect to consequences you do need to wait to see the results of the investigation to know whether there need to be any specific criminal uh criminal consequences for the per the the individuals involved it's important that that investigation play out and I as I said it ought to be uh prompt and thorough and transparent But ultimately when it comes to the changes in the rules of engagement what we have said or what we have seen and you heard the secretary speak to this is we have seen a number of occasions when Israeli security forces have stood by when there were acts of Sedler violence when they haven't intervened we need we want to see them uh intervene and stop those acts of Sedler violence uh we have seen reports of uh excessive use of force by Israeli Security Forces against uh Palestinians and now we've seen the death of two American citizens and we want that to end and that's why we want to see the changes to the Rules of Engagement and with that I'm sorry I do have to wrap for see you guys next week thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e