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Speaker 1: This is a joy. He is a National Security Council spokesman.

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Speaker 1: He is someone steeped in our defense discussion as the

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Speaker 1: President speaks at one pm this afternoon, but far more

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Speaker 1: John Kirby has actually had tours of duty with the Navy.

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Speaker 1: He has real world experience that when the facts change,

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Speaker 1: Admiral Kirby changes. Admiral, thank you so much for joining

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Speaker 1: us this morning and your briefings with the President and

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Speaker 1: his team this morning. What will be the message at

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Speaker 1: one pm?

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Speaker 2: The first and most important message that the President will

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Speaker 2: deliver in his remarks is really about the United States

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Speaker 2: is long standing and continued support of Israel, of the

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Speaker 2: people of Israel, our sympathies obviously with the loss and

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Speaker 2: the suffering and the shock that they're going through, but

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Speaker 2: also our firm resolve to make sure that they can

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Speaker 2: continue to defend themselves against these the terrorist attacks and

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Speaker 2: to take action against Hamas directly. So he will talk

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Speaker 2: about the military assistance that we are providing and that

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Speaker 2: we expect to have to provide going forward. Number two,

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Speaker 2: we'll talk about the hostage situation and the crisis and

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Speaker 2: the fear that that is awesome engendering in so many

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Speaker 2: hearts and minds throughout the region, including here in the

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Speaker 2: United States, and what the United States might be willing

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Speaker 2: to do to help with the hostage recovery efforts. And

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Speaker 2: then lastly, and this is not unimportant at all, it's

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Speaker 2: a strong message for Americans here at home that anti

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Speaker 2: Semitism has no place neither does terrorism, and that the

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Speaker 2: United States federal government will work with state and local

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Speaker 2: authorities to make sure that a Jewish community throughout the

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Speaker 2: country doesn't have to live in fear and anguish and anxiety.

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Speaker 2: That we're going to make sure that we can look

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Speaker 2: after Jewish community centers and places of worship.

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Speaker 1: John Kirby from an Israel template, there is sixty seven

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Speaker 1: and seventy three, and they were very different. To bring

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Speaker 1: it to your navy almost zuomalt Ameral Zumwalt didn't have

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Speaker 1: to worry about social media, the immediacy the speed of

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Speaker 1: news today. Will this effort of Israel and the assistance

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Speaker 1: of the United States change because of this modern news cycle,

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Speaker 1: that crushing visibility of the terror that we have seen.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you can't have a conflict today anymore

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Speaker 2: where it's not being brought home to people in real

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Speaker 2: time in you know, micro bits of information and imagery,

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Speaker 2: and it really it gives you a gut punch because

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Speaker 2: it's right in front of your face and everywhere you turn.

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Speaker 2: You gotta feel like you have to react to it.

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Speaker 2: It is really important in a crisis like this, particularly

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Speaker 2: when information is so is so ubiquitous and so accelerated,

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Speaker 2: that when appropriate, you got to make sure you're slowing

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Speaker 2: down and making the right policy decisions, that you're acting

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Speaker 2: not so much in reaction to what's in the news environment,

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Speaker 2: but what you actually need to do on the field

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Speaker 2: of battle or in the information space. Make no mistake,

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Speaker 2: and we saw this in twenty fourteen in the Gays

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Speaker 2: of War. The information, the narrative war was just as

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Speaker 2: important as the bombs that were dropping and the explosions

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Speaker 2: that were going off. That will be even more the

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Speaker 2: case here in terms of making sure that you know

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Speaker 2: that there is a common set of narratives about who's

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Speaker 2: that fault here, who are the victims, and what needs

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Speaker 2: to be done to move this forward.

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Speaker 3: John Kirby, There's been a lot of discussion around the

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Speaker 3: six billion dollars that the US released to unfroze. I

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Speaker 3: should say, for Tehran. It has not been released yet.

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Speaker 3: I've seen some of the comments that you and others

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Speaker 3: have made in the administration saying that not a penny

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Speaker 3: off it's actually been transferred. However, what is the discussion

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Speaker 3: around refreezing it. How likely and realistic is it that

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Speaker 3: this administration will refreeze that six billion dollars.

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Speaker 2: We don't have a policy decision on that to speak

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Speaker 2: to you right now. It has always been the case

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Speaker 2: that that money could have could be frozen at any time.

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Speaker 2: We said that when we send it over to Cutter

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Speaker 2: and made it available to the Iranians. It's also important

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Speaker 2: to remember that in regime, even though none of it's

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Speaker 2: been spent yet, but even if some had been, the

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Speaker 2: regime never sees a dime of it. They never get

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Speaker 2: their hands on it. It goes right to vendors that

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Speaker 2: we approve who buy the humanitarian goods and ship them

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Speaker 2: into Iran for direct access to the Iranian people. The

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Speaker 2: regime will never see a sin of this.

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Speaker 3: A lot of people have said that this is sort

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Speaker 3: of just a distraction from the real issue, which is

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Speaker 3: that essentially Iran is getting a ton of money through

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Speaker 3: the exports of oil, particularly to China despite sanctions, and

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Speaker 3: the sanctions have been somewhat lightened, how much is the

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Speaker 3: US talking about enforcing the sanctions in a more significant

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Speaker 3: way or the ineffectiveness of those sanctions.

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Speaker 2: I would push back a little bit on the idea

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Speaker 2: that sanctions have been enlightened. We have not lightened any

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Speaker 2: of the sanctions. In fact, we've added additional sanctions, some

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Speaker 2: four hundred sanctions on Iran just since the beginning of

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Speaker 2: this administration, and we're absolutely committed to full and total enforcement.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 2: Obviously, other nations have to enforce their sanctions as well,

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Speaker 2: and certainly we talk with them about that, but the

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Speaker 2: United States has not backed off on any sanctions. Quite

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Speaker 2: the contrary, We've added and increased our enforcement capability. Not

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Speaker 2: to mention, we have increased our military presence in the

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Speaker 2: Gulf region and now of course in the Eastern med

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Speaker 2: to deter would be actors like Iran who might want

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Speaker 2: to try to take advantage of the situation.

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Speaker 3: So far, there has been a distinction drawn by both

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Speaker 3: US and Israeli official saying that while it is clear

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Speaker 3: that Iran has been involved in backing Hamas financially, it

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Speaker 3: is unclear whether they were directly involved in orchestrating this

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Speaker 3: particular attack. What is the difference from a policy perspective?

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Speaker 3: What would the US do and Israel do should Iran

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Speaker 3: be determined to have been intimately connected with orchestrating this attack.

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Speaker 2: I won't get into speculating about what policy decisions we

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Speaker 2: might or might not make based on where the information

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Speaker 2: and the intelligence leads us. All I can do is

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Speaker 2: reiterate what we've been saying. We haven't seen any specific

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Speaker 2: tactical intelligence or information evidence that points to Iran's participation

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Speaker 2: in these particular attacks. Now clearly, and we've made no

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Speaker 2: owned about it, that there is already and has been

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Speaker 2: for a long time a degree of complicity by Iran

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Speaker 2: here because they've been supporting Hamas for many years, training capabilities, resourcing,

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Speaker 2: certainly rhetorically in just the last twenty four hours of

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Speaker 2: Supreme leaders out there praising this attack by Hamas. So

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Speaker 2: there's a degree of complicity, but we just haven't found

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Speaker 2: any correct evidence. And quite frankly, now they have our

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Speaker 2: Israeli counterparts, EM Kirby with.

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Speaker 1: Great respect, and I don't want you to give away

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Speaker 1: the family secrets, but the conventional effort is like aboeing

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Speaker 1: the Century E three intelligence aircraft. You put a couple

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Speaker 1: of them up in the air and gather intelligence. This

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Speaker 1: is two million people in a highly urban landscape, squeezed

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Speaker 1: into a geography that is two Washington d c's. How

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Speaker 1: do you prosecute intelligence against an enemy sandwiched in among

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Speaker 1: two million people? Very difficult, very difficult to do.

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Speaker 2: I won't speak for the Israelis, of of course, you

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Speaker 2: know this is really for them to talk about. We will,

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Speaker 2: obviously will and continue to share intelligence with them and

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Speaker 2: offer them help in intelligence gathering as of course we will,

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Speaker 2: we always do, but it'll be a task really for

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Speaker 2: them to work on. But it is very difficult, very dense,

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Speaker 2: as you said, urban and very very heavily populated and hamas.

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Speaker 2: This is just another example of their barbarity, using Palestinians

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Speaker 2: that live in gata as human shields, hiding in mosques

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Speaker 2: and residential buildings and hospitals as command centers. I mean,

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Speaker 2: this is what makes it very, very difficult for precise

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Speaker 2: targeting ERMA.

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Speaker 1: One final question, and I must speak to the Navy

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Speaker 1: that gerald Ford is in the area. Is it properly staffed?

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Speaker 1: Is this a US Navy that can develop the manpower,

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Speaker 1: the sea power to staff not only that aircraft carrier,

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Speaker 1: but the many other ships involved.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the gerald Ford care Strike Group is now in

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Speaker 2: the Eastern Mediterranean. As you rightly said, it's not just

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Speaker 2: the aircraft carrier and the embarked air way of more

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Speaker 2: than eighty aircraft, but it is several ships and around

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Speaker 2: it in its periphery. They are all fully manned, they're

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Speaker 2: all fully trained, they're all fully ready and fully armed

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Speaker 2: to look after American national security interests in the region.

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Speaker 2: That was one of the messages that the President wanted

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Speaker 2: to send by moving those forces there, that nobody should

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Speaker 2: take advantage of the situation in Israel, and that the

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Speaker 2: United States will always make sure that our national security

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Speaker 2: interests are first and foremost as well.

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Speaker 1: Admiral, thank you so much. John Curry of the National

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Speaker 1: Security Council,