Via Teleconference
12:20 P.M. EDT
MODERATOR: Hey, everyone. Thanks for joining. We do not have anything here at the top, so we'll go straight into questions.
Trevor with Reuters, if you want to start us off.
Q Hey. Thanks for doing this. First, do you have any comment about this DHL plane that crashed on the way to Lithuania and if there was any suspicion about Russian involvement?
And then second, just any update on Lebanon ceasefire talks. There's some reporting that suggests that that's towards the end of the process there.
MR. KIRBY: So, on your first question, Trevor, what I can tell you is that the FAA and NTSB are cooperating in the investigation that the Lithuanians are just now conducting. This is pretty fresh stuff here; it just happened. So we're certainly not going to get ahead of that investigation and where the facts are going to lead them, but we are contributing some expertise on these kinds of things to help them through that. And I'm sure that the Lithuanian authorities, as appropriate, will keep people informed about what they're learning.
On your second question, look, I've seen the press reporting and the comments by anonymous officials. I think you can understand that where we're going to be today is that this remains a top priority for the President, has for some time and certainly is today as we speak, to get this ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah so that the rockets and the missiles stop and so that people can start moving back to their homes and restarting their lives along that Blue Line. And we are actively involved in trying to bring that about. But nothing is negotiated until everything is negotiated.
And as you and I are speaking here this morning, Trevor — I'm sorry, this afternoon — those conversations are ongoing.
MODERATOR: Thank you. Our next — sorry, some user issue here. Our next question will go to Zeke with AP.
Q Thanks, John, for doing this. Just following up on your answer to Trevor there. Can you discuss what remaining sticking points there are? What is still being negotiated, if not everything is yet negotiated?
And then, is there anything in detail about the President's personal involvement? We know Amos has been in the region, but what has the President's involvement been in these talks? Thank you.
MR. KIRBY: The President has been monitoring this very, very closely. He's been in direct touch with Amos. Amos is back now.
I'm not going to get into the details. You know, there's still some process things that I think that they're working through, and it just wouldn't be wise of me to go into much detail at this particular point.
Look, I can tell you that the discussions that Amos had were constructive, and we believe that the trajectory of this is going in a very positive direction.
But, again, nothing is done until everything is done. Nothing is all negotiated until everything is negotiated. And, you know, we need to keep at the work to see it through so that we can actually get this ceasefire for which we've been working for so long and so hard.
MODERATOR: Thank you. Our next question will go to MJ with CNN.
Q Hi, John. A bunch of weeks ago, the U.S. had put out this Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire proposal, which was very publicly rejected by the Prime Minister. Can you just talk to us about —
MODERATOR: Sorry, MJ, your audio cut out. Would you mind starting again?
Q Yeah. I said that a bunch of weeks ago, the U.S. had put out this ceasefire proposal, which was publicly rejected by the Prime Minister. So I wondered if you could talk to us about the timing. Assuming that this does come together, why now? What's different now versus back then, when you all, again, first put this proposal out there?
And then secondly, Mike Waltz said that he has now met with Jake Sullivan. Can you give us the top lines? Who attended this meeting? What were the issues discussed? The Congressman also sort of leaned into this idea that the current and the incoming administrations are working hand in glove as one team. What exactly are you all working on together at this point? Thanks.
MR. KIRBY: Yeah, MJ. So, on the first question, the why now is because we are at a certain point in the discussions where, again, we believe that things are moving in a very positive way. It's not — I mean, your question presupposes that, you know, we sort of put an anchor on the calendar and said, "Well, you know, we got to have it by, you know, before Thanksgiving." And that's not the thinking here.
You know, with all these negotiations, including the ones that we've been trying to get, you know, with Hamas, it's try, try again. Keep putting things on the table. Keep exploring things. Keep moving things back and forth as both sides are presenting their requirements to you. And we are mediating this, and we are where we are today because of a lot of back and forth, a lot of discussions, a lot of work, principally by Amos, of course. And we believe we've reached this point where, you know, we're close.
But, again, I want to be careful and cautious here in how I characterize it, because until you get everything done, you don't have a deal. So that's kind of where we are.
You talked about it being rejected earlier, but there's been back and forth with both sides now for many weeks to get us to this point.
On the Waltz meeting, I can confirm that Jake did meet with Congressman Waltz, but I'm not going to get into the private conversation, and I need to really just leave it there.
On your second question, or your third question, I guess, on transition, the President has been consistent on this that he wants to make sure across the administration, and that certainly includes us here at the National Security Council, that we are doing everything that we can to effect a professional and an orderly transition.
And we continue to urge the incoming team to take the steps that are necessary to be able to facilitate that on their end as well.
MODERATOR: Thank you. Our next question will go to Barak with Axios.
Q Hi, John. Thank you for doing this. Two quick questions. First on the follow-up on Jake's meeting with Waltz. I was told that one of the issues they discussed is how the current administration and the incoming administration can work together to push for a Gaza hostage deal in the less than two months that are left until January 20th. Can you confirm that?
And second thing: The U.S. is going to give Israel a letter of assurances, a letter of guarantees, whatever you want to call it, about Israel's freedom of operation in Lebanon, if it sees any imminent threats after a ceasefire is reached. Can you say anything about that?
MR. KIRBY: No and no. I'm sorry, Barak, but I really can't be more helpful to you on either one of those ones.
The only thing I will say is, you know —
Q (Laughs.) I tried.
MR. KIRBY: Yeah, you did. It was a — it was a good effort.
(Inaudible) rumors of a letter of guarantees (inaudible) and to protect their people. And in those efforts, they'll continue to get support from the United States.
MODERATOR: Thank you. Our next question will go to Danny with AFP.
Q Hi, Admiral. Thanks for doing this. A couple of things. Firstly, just for the avoidance of any doubt, when you say, you know, we believe we've reached this point where we're close, you mean close to a deal. Is that right?
MR. KIRBY: That's correct.
Q Oh, thanks.
MR. KIRBY: That's correct.
Q And secondly, there are reports in the region that President Macron of France is involved in this deal and indeed that there are plans for him and President Biden to announce it tomorrow. Any comment on either of those aspects?
MR. KIRBY: No, but except to say: I think you all know that the President spoke with President Macron last week, and, of course, they talked about a lot of things, including the war in Gaza and how much they both want to see this conflict end and tensions to be taken down and a ceasefire to be reached, in this case particularly between Israel and Hezbollah. But beyond that, I won't comment.
Q Thanks.
MODERATOR: Thank you. Our next question will go to Neria with Channel 13 Israel.
Q Hi, Kirby. Thank you so much for —
Hey, Admiral. Thank you so much for doing this.
I wanted to ask: U.S. officials approached the Lebanese today and told them that Israel is on board. Did you get any response from the people in that — from the government in Lebanon, from Hezbollah?
And also, Netanyahu wants to know when he will be able to go back into a war, if he'd like to, if the Israeli government would think that's necessary. And I understand this is one of the latest things that are not completed yet. Can you elaborate more on that, please?
MR. KIRBY: Hey, I'm not going to be very helpful here. This kind of gets, you know, to Barak's question about this rumor of a letter of guarantees.
Q Yeah, we didn't hear your answer there. You muted your Zoom or something, when Barak asked the question.
MR. KIRBY: Oh, my answer to Barak was no, and I think he acknowledged that.
But, look, I understand the great interest in this, and I really won't go beyond what I've said before. We believe we're close. The conversations that Amos had were very positive. And as I said earlier, we believe the trajectory is going in the right direction here to potentially getting this ceasefire done. But it's not done. And the last thing that I'm going to do publicly is speak about the details of it and what components are in there so that I don't in any way sabotage the efforts to actually complete it.
This remains an important priority for President Biden. That's why we have been working hard to mediate this deal so that people can return to their lives and their homes around the Blue Line, and the rockets and missiles can stop.
So, again, I do understand where all the questions are coming from. They're all fair, they're all right, they're all the right questions to ask today, but I'm just not going to be able to get into too much of the details. Actually, I'm not going to get into any of the details here unless or until we've got more to say.
Q And one last question, if that's okay, Admiral, about the new administration. We do hear that Trump's administration is getting messages from Israeli officials about — saying that most of the hostages are dead, maybe trying to convince them not to try to push to a deal. Do you know anything about it? Do you give the new administration any info about the hostages that are still alive?
MR. KIRBY: I don't know anything about those conversations. And as I said earlier to a question about Congressman Waltz's meeting with Jake, we continue to urge the incoming team to take the steps necessary so that we can help effect an orderly, efficient, complete, and comprehensive transition to them, which includes being able to provide them the kinds of briefings, and the context, and the material that we believe will be important to help inform their decisions as they come into office. So that's where we are.
Q Thank you so much.
MR. KIRBY: Yes, ma'am.
MODERATOR: Thank you. Our next question will go to Nadia.
Q Thank you. Thank you for doing this. I want to follow up on a few of the questions about Lebanon.
Number one, John, can you just confirm once and for all that, actually, we do not expect any announcement between the President and Macron, not tomorrow, but maybe in the next few days? Because now everybody talks about the kind — maybe there is a kind of announcement, maybe not tomorrow or the day after, but soon.
MR. KIRBY: All I can tell you, Nadia, is what I've been saying here for 15, 20 minutes. You know, we believe we're close, and there's been an awful lot of work done. And when we have something we can announce and we can speak to, well, by goodness, we'll do that, and we'll do that as soon as it is practical to do so.
But I couldn't sit here and look at the calendar over the next day or two and tell you exactly when that might be.
Q Okay. Fair enough. How close does Mr. Hochstein coordinate with the Trump transitional team on Lebanon, and at what level?
MR. KIRBY: I'm not going to get into the private conversations that Mr. Hochstein has been having as he's been working to try to get this deal. He's been very, very focused on primarily discussing what he's doing — or what he's trying to do with our Israeli counterparts and, of course, his counterparts on the Lebanon side. And I'm just going to leave it at that.
Q Okay. And just one last question. I know you said you don't want to talk about any letters of guarantees, but in general, is this any role that the U.S. playing in this mediation, beyond the facilitating both points of views, whether in execution later on or whether in some kind of guarantee to both sides, not just the Israelis?
MR. KIRBY: I'm not sure I understand your question. I mean, as the mediator of this, we're obviously trying to get a ceasefire over the finish line.
Q Sure, but let me explain what I meant. I meant there is lots of reports saying basically that the U.S. will guarantee — will give to Israel the right to monitor Lebanese airspace to make sure that Hezbollah is not going to launch rockets from there, and that will be by U.S. supervision. While now you're saying there is no letter, there's nothing like this. And vice versa — they were saying that they will make sure that during the 60 days ceasefire, that there's no violation; the U.S. will guarantee that by monitoring what's happening and reporting it.
MR. KIRBY: What I said was I'm not going to confirm reports that there's some sort of letter out there. I'm not going to confirm any of the details that have been discussed between the two sides and the United States. We are not there yet. And if we're able to get there, as soon as possible we will lay it all out for everybody. And you'll get to see for yourself, you know, what was negotiated.
But the last thing I'm going to do is get into speculation from press reports about what is or what isn't in this deal at this particular point. I'm just not going to do it.
Q Okay. Thank you.
MR. KIRBY: Yes, ma'am.
MODERATOR: Thank you. Our next question will go to Marek with Polskie Radio.
Q Thank you, Sam. Hi, John. I have a question on the Russia threats against Poland. Moscow says that the new U.S. missile defense base that was just recently opened in Redzikowo in Poland is considered a priority target. So may I ask you for a comment on that?
And my second question is: What's your assessment on the effectiveness of the use of ATACMS by Ukraine? In the past, you kind of downplayed potential impact of the ATACMS on the battlefield and warned that allowing Ukraine to strike deep into Russia could lead to escalation by the Kremlin. How do you see it now?
MR. KIRBY: Right now, they are able to use ATACMS to defend themselves, you know, in an immediate-need basis. And right now, you know, understandably, that's taking place in and around Kursk, in the Kursk Oblast. I'd let the Ukrainians speak to their use of ATACMS and their targeting procedures, and what they're using them for and how well they're doing.
But nothing has changed about the — well, obviously we did change the guidance and gave them guidance that they could use them, you know, to strike these particular types of targets.
On your — what was your first question again? I knew I was going to forget.
Q Just about Russia's threats against Poland, the new missile defense (inaudible) put on the target list.
MR. KIRBY: Yeah, we've seen those comments, and, obviously, you know, you have to take those kinds of threats seriously, and we do. As reckless and irresponsible as they are, we obviously take it seriously.
President Biden has been rock-solid. We're going to do everything we have to do to make sure our troops on the European continent are safe and secure. And just as importantly, you know, we take our Article Five commitments to our NATO Allies incredibly seriously. It's rock-solid, and that's not going to change.
MODERATOR: Thank you. Our next question will go to Hiba.
Q Thanks, John. I want to try again, John, to understand where do things stand now. From what we've learned, there was an Israeli response that was then relayed to the Lebanese. If Israel hasn't made any amendment to it, the agreement remains as is. Now, did you receive anything from the Lebanese? Where is the agreement now? On the Lebanon side? On Israel side?
Second, my second question: Is it an agreed ceasefire? And within these 60 days or whatever, the negotiations will continue for a broader deal?
And my third question, please, if I may: Will this ceasefire agreement or deal, or whatever, go to the U.N. Security Council, considering that you will soon preside over it in December? I mean, will we have a resolution? Will we have a statement from the U.N. Security Council after this? Because the Lebanese were opposing that. Thank you.
MR. KIRBY: Yeah, Hiba, look, I'm simply not going to talk about where we are in the negotiation process. As I said several times here on this call, we believe we're close. The conversations that Amos had in the region were constructive. I'd go so far as to say we believe they were productive.
But nothing is done until it's all done, and it's not done right now. And if we can get there, as soon as possible we'll be able to talk in more detail with all of you about the contents of this. But I hope you understand how irresponsible it will be — irresponsible it would be for me in an on-the-record gaggle to lay out for you and confirm every single press report out there about what is in or what is not in this deal. I'm just not going to do it.
And I don't have anything to talk to you today about, you know, if we get a deal, what a broader timeline (inaudible). All that gets into the parameters of the deal itself. So, again, I'm just not going to go there.
MODERATOR: Thank you. And unfortunately, that's all the time we have for today. As always, if we weren't able to get to your questions, please reach out to our distro, our NSC press distro. And I think Kirby has a few words here before we fully go.
MR. KIRBY: Yep, just two things. One, look, I know you all had lots of very detailed questions, and you're coming away from the gaggle, I'm sure, unsatisfied, and I understand that.
I just — as I said many times, I hope you understand why. I'm not trying to obfuscate, certainly not trying to be an obstacle or make things difficult for you. What I was trying to do is characterize sort of where we think we are but not do anything or say anything that might torpedo our chances.
And obviously, the most important thing here is that we try to get this ceasefire, because it will mean, literally, that lives will be saved and, hopefully over a period of time, that livelihoods will be restored. And again, last thing any spokesman wants to do is be in the way of that. And so, I just want you to understand where I was coming from.
The last thing is: I don't know if we're going to have a chance to talk before Thanksgiving. If not, I just want to wish everybody a happy holiday. And if you're traveling, please do so safely.
And thanks for all this engagement. I know it's been a while since we did a gaggle. And hopefully after the holiday is over, we can get back on to a more normal schedule.
But anyway, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you if I don't get a chance to talk to you before then. Thanks.
MODERATOR: Thanks, everyone.
12:44 P.M. EDT
