WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has hinted at the possibility of extending a crucial deadline for Iran to roll back its nuclear programme, noting that Teheran has already taken significant steps to meet its obligations.

In a major foreign policy statement he read at the White House, Mr Obama also assured Afghans that America will stay committed to their country even after its combat mission is over as it does not want yet another terrorist attacks on its territories.

Mr Obama, who met his top foreign policy advisers at the White House on Wednesday evening, also announced new sanctions against Russia, hoping to modify its involvement in Ukraine.

He reiterated his support for Israel’s efforts to defend itself against Hamas’ rocket attacks but also stressed the need for a diplomatic solution to this dispute.

Before the announcement, Mr Obama discussed major world issues with his Secretary of State John Kerry, who returned to Washington this week after visiting key world capitals.

During this tour, Mr Kerry arranged a power-sharing deal between two Afghan political rivals – Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani – whose dispute had threatened to return war-torn Afghanistan to yet another civil war. He also visited Vienna where five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany (P5 + 1) were holding nuclear talks with Iran.

“Over the last six months, Iran has met its commitments under the interim deal we reached last year — halting the progress of its nuclear programme, allowing more inspections and rolling back its more dangerous stockpile of nuclear material,” said Mr Obama after his meeting with Mr Kerry.

“We are working with our P5-plus-1 partners and Iran to reach a comprehensive agreement that assures us that Iran’s program will, in fact, be peaceful and that they won’t obtain a nuclear weapon.”

Mr Obama said that after consultations with Secretary Kerry and his national security team, he was convinced that the nuclear talks had “made real progress in several areas” and that that there was a credible way forward.

He noted that the July 20th deadline for Iran to meet its obligations was drawing close while “some significant gaps” still remained. The deadline was set in an interim deal reached in Vienna earlier this year.

“So over the next few days, we’ll continue consulting with Congress — and our team will continue discussions with Iran and our partners –- as we determine whether additional time is necessary to extend our negotiations,” he said.

Mr Obama noted that Secretary Kerry visited Kabul over the weekend and succeeded in breaking the impasse over the presidential election. Both candidates have agreed to abide by the results of a comprehensive and internationally supervised audit that will review all the ballots, and to form a unity government. “If they keep their commitments, Afghanistan will witness the first democratic transfer of power in the history of that nation,” Mr Obama said.

He assured the Afghans that the withdrawal of combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year would not end US support to their country.

“Even as our combat mission in Afghanistan ends this year, America’s commitment to a sovereign, united, and democratic Afghanistan will endure –- along with our determination that Americans are never again threatened by terrorists inside of Afghanistan,” he declared.

Mr Obama’s meeting with his top foreign policy and national security advisers, however, focused on the situation in Ukraine and after the meeting he announced a new set of sanctions against Russia, aimed at modifying its intervention in Ukraine.

The sanctions target major Russian banks and lucrative energy and defence entities for allowing weapons to cross into Ukraine and other involvement in that country.

“I have repeatedly made it clear that Russia must halt the flow of weapons and fighters across the border into Ukraine,” Mr Obama said. “I have made this clear directly to [Russian President] Putin.”

The new sanctions target two major Russian energy firms, Novatek and Rosneft, and a pair of leading Russian financial institutions, Gazprombank and VEB, restricting their ability to access US capital markets.

Eight Russian arms firms responsible for the production of small arms, mortar shells and tanks were also hit with sanctions.

Included on the sanctions list were four individuals: Putin adviser Igor Shchegolev, Russian State Duma Deputy Speaker Sergei Neverov, Ukrainian separatist leader Aleksandr Borodai and Sergey Beseda, an official with Russia’s Federal Security Service.

European Union leaders also announced new sanctions on Wednesday, asking the European Investment Bank to sign no new agreements with Moscow.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2014