USA TODAY International Edition
Pompeo warns Iran faces ‘the strongest sanctions’
U.S. will punish regime for its Mideast malice
WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened Iran on Monday with “the strongest sanctions in history” if Tehran doesn’t stop its aggression across the Middle East.
Pompeo outlined a long list of U.S. demands, including having Iran forever abandon its nuclear fuel production program, dismantle its ballistic missiles and end support for terrorist groups and militias in the region.
In his first major foreign policy speech since becoming the top U.S. diplomat, Pompeo said the approach by President Trump would ensure “Iran has no possible path to a nuclear weapon, ever.”
At the conservative Heritage Foundation, Pompeo called for a better international nuclear agreement to contain Iran. He said the United States would “apply unprecedented financial pressure” to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table.
On May 8, Trump pulled the United States out of the Iran nuclear agreement negotiated with five other world powers during the Obama administration. The deal lifted some sanctions in exchange for Iran limiting its nuclear activities to peaceful purposes.
Pompeo said the United States seeks a treaty with Iran ratified by Congress that would end Tehran’s nuclear enrichment program and provide international inspectors access to any site in Iran.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said the new policy is “ridiculous and embarrassing and more like a satire.”
“The United States wants to withdraw from an international multilateral agreement, and then, under other circumstances, it wants to negotiate and reunite,” Qassemi said, according to Iran’s Fars News Agency.
Iranian diplomats negotiating to keep the deal alive in Europe are not discussing any other issues, he said.
Pompeo noted that Iran’s military activities in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and the Palestinian territories have accelerated in recent years, fueled by an influx of cash provided by the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. “Iran advanced its march across the Middle East” because of the agreement, Pompeo said.
He said Iran would have to stop its “malign activities in the region” before the sanctions could be lifted.
“Today, we ask the Iranian people: Is this what you want your country to be known for, to be a co-conspirator with Hezbollah, Hamas and al-Qaeda? The United States thinks you deserve better,” Pompeo said.
He called on Iranians to challenge their leaders to do what’s necessary to avoid the damage of sanctions the United States is about to impose.
Not only will the past U.S. sanctions resume in full over the next 155 days, but “this is just the beginning,” Pompeo said. “The sting of sanctions will be painful if the regime does not change its course. … These will be the strongest sanctions in history.”
The new sanctions will mean “countries have to give up economic activity” with Iran, including activity allowed under the nuclear agreement, he said.
When the full force of the sanctions are in place, Iran “will be battling to keep its economy alive,” forcing it to choose between that or squandering resources abroad. “It will not be able to do both,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo listed a dozen actions the United States expects from Iran to avoid or end sanctions. In addition to ending the nuclear program, they include ending support for terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, the Taliban and Houthi militias. Iran must withdraw all its forces from Syria, stop harboring al-Qaeda terrorists, quit threatening international shipping and end destructive cyberattacks. Iran must also release foreign detainees, he said.
“It’s a long list, but it simply reflects the malign activities of Iran,” Pompeo said. “We didn’t create the list, they did.”
In exchange, Trump is willing to extend a hand of friendship by ending “all sanctions against the regime,” Pompeo said. “And we’d be willing to support the reintegration of Iran’s economy in the international economic system.”
Pompeo urged the Iranian people, who he said are “longing to seek the freedoms and opportunities of the 21st century,” to pressure their leaders to plot a new course. “Iranian leaders can change this if they want to.”
U.S. allies have been loath to abandon the agreement, which they concede is imperfect but achieves temporary limits on Iran’s nuclear activities.
“We ask the Iranian people: Is this what you want your country to be known for, to be a co-conspirator with Hezbollah, Hamas and al-Qaeda? The United States thinks you deserve better.”
Mike Pompeo
Secretary of State