John Bolton, the national security adviser of President Donald Trump, stated on Thursday that he warned Moscow not to interfere in the upcoming U.S. midterm elections in November.
According to Reuters, the warning came during the talks he had with the chief of Russia’s National Security Council.
Reuters reported that Bolton also raised the issue of tightening economic sanctions against Iran with Nikolai Patrushev and said they had discussed a phased withdrawal of Iran’s presence in Syria.
“I made it clear we wouldn’t tolerate (election) meddling in 2018 and we were prepared to take necessary steps to prevent it from happening,” Bolton said during a news conference in Geneva, where he and Petrushev talked for more than five hours.
Economic sanctions against Russia are already imposed by Washington for the alleged interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Moscow regularly denies the allegations.
Bolton added that the issue of meddling in elections had prevented the two sides from issuing a joint final statement, Reuters wrote.
Regarding Iran, Bolton stated that Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 international deal, meant to limit Tehran’s nuclear program, is part of Washington’s objective to “put maximum pressure on the regime” by making sanctions more extensive and effective.
About Iran’s role in Syria and Yemen, Bolton said that their objective is to get all Iranian forces to return back to their country.
“Our objective is that all Iranian forces return to Iran… And we talked about a variety of ways in which it might be accomplished through a series of steps.”
Be the first to comment