The Trump administration has demanded that Iran make wholesale changes in its military and regional policies or face “the strongest sanctions in history,” as it sought to turn up heat on Tehran after Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal.
In a speech that called Iran out for a wide range of “malign activities” apart from its nuclear program, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for the negotiation of a new deal that would go far beyond the single focus of the original agreement and would have the status of a formal treaty.
The 2015 deal concluded under the Obama administration dealt only with the nuclear program and was not a treaty but rather a UN-endorsed executive agreement between the parties. Unless such a treaty can be reached, Mr Pompeo warned that Iran would face tough sanctions that would leave it “battling to keep its economy alive.” But he laid out no strategy for convincing Iran, the other participants in the original deal — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the European Union — or others to open such a negotiation.
“These will end up being the strongest sanctions in history by the time we are complete,” Mr Pompeo said at the conservative Heritage Foundation in his first major policy speech since taking over as top diplomat.
Mr Pompeo vowed Mr Trump’s approach would ensure Iran would never develop a nuclear weapon. A new pact should require that Iran stop enrichment of uranium, which was allowed within strict limitations under the previous deal.
Read the report in The Australian (AP).