Pompeo: US to put ‘unprecedented financial pressure’ on Iran
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at the
Heritage Foundation May 21, 2018 in Washington, DC. Photo: Win McNamee /
Getty Images / AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Mike Pompeo, the US secretary
of state, has unveiled the next steps in US policy toward Iran since
Washington withdrew from the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal earlier in May.
"The sting of sanctions would be painful if the regime does not change its course from the unacceptable and unproductive path that has chosen to one rejoins the League of Nations," he said. "These will indeed end up being the strongest sanctions in history when we are complete.
"The regime has been fighting all over the Middle East for years. After our sanctions come in force, it will be battling to keep its economy alive. Iran will be forced to make a choice; either fight to keep its economy off life support at home or keep squandering precious wealth on fights abroad. It will have the resources to do both," he added.
Speaking at the Heritage Foundation in Washington on Monday, the former CIA chief said the US will act to curtail Iran’s influence across the Middle East, in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.
"Iran advanced its march across the Middle East during the JCPOA. Qasem Soleimani (senior military officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) has been playing with house money that has become blood money," said Pompeo.
"Wealth created by the West has fuelled his campaigns. Strategically, the Obama administration made a bet that the deal would spur Iran to stop its rogue state actions and conform to international norms. That bet was a loser with massive repercussions for all of the people living in the Middle East."
“Iran will never again have carte blanche to dominate the Middle East,” he added.
The newly appointed secretary of state said European firms that continue to pursue “prohibited business” with Iran will be held “to account.”
Iran must “stop enrichment” of uranium and never preprocess plutonium, he said. It must also allow nuclear “unqualified access to all sites throughout the country.”
Iran must “release all US citizens,” end support for Houthi rebels in Yemen, “withdraw all forces” from Syria, and stop threatening Israel, he added.
Pompeo used his speech to slam the previous administration's Iran policy.
"(US) President Trump withdrew from the deal for a simple reason - it failed to guarantee the safety of the American people from the risk created by the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.
"No more, no more wealth creation for Iranian kleptocrats, no more acceptance of missiles landing in Riyadh and the Golan Heights, no more cost free expansions of Iranian power, no more. The JCPOA put the world at risk because of its failed flaws."
Ahead of Pompeo's speech, Bahram Qasemi, spokesman of Iran's foreign ministry, told a press conference that Iranian forces would remain in Syria until terrorism is defeated.
Forces that entered Syria "without the permission of the Syrian government and violated the sovereignty of this country” must leave, he said, with reference to US and Turkish forces.
Following his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last week in Sochi, Russian President Vladimir Putin said it is time for all forces to withdraw from Syria.
Putin said Syrian government forces have achieved considerable success in terms of providing security, so the Syrian government is ready to find a political solution to the seven-year conflict.
A day later, Alexander Lavrentiev, Putin’s envoy for Syria, said all foreign forces, including Iranian forces, must now leave Syria.
Iran has played a major role in backing Assad’s regime.
Since Trump announced the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, Israel and Iran-backed forces in Syria have exchanged fire, leading to an increasingly tense standoff.
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