US President Barack Obama today welcomed the deal to bring Syria's chemical weapons under international control, but warned there would be "consequences" if the Assad regime does not comply with the agreement.
After US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov hammered out an agreement on the Syrian chemical stockpile during talks in Geneva, Obama said the international community expects Syria to live up to its public commitments.
"While we have made important progress, much more work remains to be done. The US will continue working with Russia, the UK, France, the UN and others to ensure that this process is verifiable, and that there are consequences should the Assad regime not comply with the framework agreed today," he said in a statement.
"And, if diplomacy fails, the US remains prepared to act," Obama said.
He reiterated that he had decided to take military action against the embattled regime after it allegedly used chemical weapons that left over 1400 people dead.
After Russia proposed the initiative to bring the chemical weapons under international watch, Obama put on hold his planned military intervention.
"In part because of the credible threat of US military force, we now have the opportunity to achieve our objectives through diplomacy. I spoke to Secretary Kerry earlier today and thanked him for his tireless and effective efforts on behalf of our nation. I also spoke to Ambassador Samantha Power who will ably lead our follow-on negotiations at the UN Security Council in New York," Obama said.
Kerry and Lavrov reached an agreement on a framework for Syria to destroy its chemical weapons by mid-2014.
"This framework provides the opportunity for the elimination of Syrian chemical weapons in a transparent, expeditious, and verifiable manner, which could end the threat these weapons pose not only to the Syrian people but to the region and the world," Obama said.
Kerry now heads to Israel and France.
Obama said the progress made by Russia and US represents an important, concrete step toward the goal of moving Syria's chemical weapons under international control so that they may ultimately be destroyed.
