The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Pompeo says sanctions will alter Iran’s behavior
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo predicted Sunday that the remaining sanctions against Iran that resume today will change the Tehran government’s behavior in the region.
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Pompeo said the sanctions — the last ones to snap back after the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal — aim to get Tehran to stop supporting militants in the Middle East, stop testing missiles and treat its own citizens with more respect. And he defended President Donald Trump’s tweet Friday featuring a “Game of Thrones”-inspired poster that warned: “Sanctions Are Coming.”
Pompeo said that Trump was “putting the world on notice that the terror regime which threatens Israel through Iranian funding of Lebanese Hezbollah, that the terror regime that attempted to conduct an assassination in Denmark over that past few weeks, that the terror regime that continues to fund Houthis launching missiles into Riyadh and into Dubai, that’s going to stop. That behavior must change, and sanctions of the United States will be reimposed at midnight tonight.”
Asked what the administration would do if the Irani- ans restart their nuclear program, Pompeo said, “We’re confident that Iranians will not make that decision.”
Sunday marked the end of a 180-day deadline the United States set before the second round of sanctions lifted under the 2015 deal were to resume. Although the sanctions are against the financial and shipping sectors, the most significant measures prohibit purchases of Iranian oil, which provides 80 percent of Tehran’s tax revenue.
Starting today, all coun- tries and businesses that buy oil from Iran risk secondary sanctions from the United States, and the admin- istration has vowed to pur- sue offenders aggressively. Virtually all multinational companies that had started doing business in Iran after sanctions were suspended in 2016 have pulled out. That has helped send the Iranian rial plummeting and hurt ordinary Iranians amid spiraling prices for basic goods.
But only a handful of coun- tries support the U.S. action, and Iranian officials have said that the reimposed sanctions underscore how isolated the United States is. Many Middle East analysts also are skeptical that Iran will change its behavior in any way, in a show of defiance.
On “Fox News Sunday,” Pompeo defended the administration’s decision to grant temporary waivers on oil sanctions to eight nations, including some of Iran’s biggest oil customers.
The secretary of state has not named the countries, though Turkey has said it has received notice and is among them. China, South Korea, Japan and India also are expected to get waivers. Pompeo said all had made significant reductions in their Iran oil purchases already but “need a little bit more time to get to zero.”
Pompeo also said the troops going to the southern U.S. border are intended to keep a caravan of migrants from entering the country illegally, but he suggested the migrants may be allowed to enter if they apply through the proper channels.
“If they want to come here lawfully, that’s the American tradition, it’s the American way,” he said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “We continue to be the most generous nation in the world with respect to immigration. But illegal immigration will not be permitted.”
He also said the United States is still seeking to identify everyone involved in the killing of Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed last month in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. But he also said the incident will not be allowed to harm U.S.-Saudi relations.
“We’re working with the Turkish government, with the Saudi government and with anyone else who has relevant facts for us to be able to determine all of those who were responsible for this atrocious murder.”