U.S. vowS relentleSS Iran cUrbS

washington — The United States vowed on Monday to be “relentless” in countering Iran as sweeping sanctions took effect, but the Islamic republic defiantly promised to stand up to the “bullying” by Washington.

President Donald Trump’s administration nonetheless issued eight exemptions from its demand on all countries to stop buying Iranian oil, the country’s largest export, amid bitter international opposition to the unilateral US sanctions.

Six months after Trump pulled out of an international agreement on ending Tehran’s nuclear programme, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the ultimate US goal was for Iran to make a “180-degree turn” and abandon its “revolutionary course”.

While stopping short of urging regime change, he reiterated demands

for Iran to end policies rooted in the 1979 Islamic revolution including its support for regional proxies such as the Lebanese militia Hezbollah and its development of missiles.

“We hope a new agreement with Iran is possible, but until Iran makes changes in the 12 ways I listed in May, we will be relentless in exerting pressure on the regime,” Pompeo said.

He said the sanctions intended to “starve the Iranian regime of the funds it uses to fund violent activity throughout the Middle East and around the world”.

“I announce that we will proudly bypass your illegal, unjust sanctions because it’s against international regulations,” Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said in a televised speech as the sanctions took effect.

“We are in a situation of economic war, confronting a bullying power. I don’t think that in the history of America, someone has entered the White House who is so against law and international conventions,” he added. —