US to Host Global Summit on Iran in Poland, Pompeo Says

The United States is organizing an international summit in Poland next month, focusing on Iran's Middle Eastern influence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News.

Pompeo made the announcement in an interview with the network during a regional tour aimed at reassuring US allies after President Donald Trump's shock decision to withdraw all US troops from Syria, which sparked concerns that Iran's influence could grow.

"We'll bring together dozens of countries from all around the world," Pompeo told Fox.

They will "focus on Middle East stability and peace and freedom and security here in this region, and that includes an important element of making sure that Iran is not a destabilizing influence," the top US diplomat said.

The event will take place on February 13 and 14.

Photo Credit: Wikicommons

Pompeo Vows to Expel 'Every Last Iranian Boot' from Syria

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed Thursday the United States and its allies would chase all Iranian troops from Syria, and urged Middle East nations to forge a common stand against Tehran.

"It's time for old rivalries to end, for the sake of the greater good of the region," said Pompeo at a keynote address in Cairo.

America "will use diplomacy and work with our partners to expel every last Iranian boot" from Syria and bolster efforts "to bring peace and stability to the long-suffering Syrian people," he added.

The top US diplomat was in Egypt on the latest leg of a whistle-stop regional tour aimed at shoring up Washington's Middle East policy following President Donald Trump's shock decision to withdraw 2,000 US troops from Syria.

Pompeo stressed the pullout would go ahead, despite comments in recent weeks appearing to walk back Trump's decision, but that the US would remain engaged.

The "decision to withdraw our troops has been made. We will do that. We will withdraw our forces, our uniformed forces, from Syria and continue America's crushing campaign," Pompeo told reporters at a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shukry.

He also met earlier with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, after arriving in Cairo late Wednesday on his longest trip since taking office last year which has already taken him to Jordan, Baghdad and the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital Arbil.

'New beginning'

In his address entitled "A Force for Good: America Reinvigorated in the Middle East" at the American University in Cairo, Pompeo also took aim at former president Barack Obama without naming him.

Trump's predecessor had "grossly underestimated the tenacity and viciousness of radical Islamism," Pompeo said.

And parroting Obama's words in his landmark 2009 speech in Cairo, Pompeo vowed that now was really "a new beginning" in ties between the US and the Middle East.

Pompeo's tour is aimed at urging regional allies to continue to confront the "significant threats" posed by Iran and jihadists.

Even though Islamic State group jihadists have been largely eradicated from Iraq, after capturing a vast swathe of territory in 2014, some still control a few pockets in war-torn Syria.

Pompeo will also visit Gulf countries including Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

As he arrived in Egypt, the State Department described the country as a “steadfast partner in the anti-terror fight, and a courageous voice in denouncing the radical Islamist ideology that fuels it". 

But there are rising concerns that US policy is getting bogged down. A long-promised Trump plan for a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians has so far failed to materialise. 

And many of the Trump administration's decisions have stoked confusion and angered many regional allies. 

'Middle East even messier'

"By most accounts, Trump's Middle East policy has made a messy Middle East even messier," Aaron David Miller, a former US diplomat and now an analyst at the Wilson Center, said on Twitter.

"A risk averse president who makes new policy by tweet or phone call surrounded by risk-ready advisers who run cleanup, don't respect deliberation and have objectives that aren't clear or attainable equals US policy (or lack of it) in Syria."

Turkey and the United States are now at loggerheads over the future of Syrian Kurdish forces, considered by Ankara as "terrorists", after the troop pullout.

Turkish officials had a tense meeting this week with Trump's national security adviser John Bolton in Ankara aimed at coordinating the pullout process after Bolton set conditions that appeared to postpone it indefinitely. 

The terms included total defeat of IS—still active in some Syrian regions—and ensuring that Kurdish fighters who fought alongside the Americans against the jihadists will be protected. 

On Thursday, Turkey renewed its threat to launch an offensive against Kurds. 

"If the (pullout) is put off with ridiculous excuses like Turks are massacring Kurds, which do not reflect the reality, we will implement this decision," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told NTV television.

Photo Credit: Nadeen Shaker

Turkey Warns US its Iran Sanctions Are 'Dangerous'

Turkey has warned Washington against its new sanctions on Iran, saying isolating the Islamic Republic is "dangerous.” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday.

Washington this week imposed a second set of sanctions on Iran that aim to isolate the country's banking sector and slash its oil exports.

Eight countries including Turkey have received a US waiver to continue importing Iranian oil.

"While we were asking (for) an exemption from the United States, we have also been very frank with them that cornering Iran is not wise. Isolating Iran is dangerous and punishing the Iranian people is not fair," he said at a press conference during a trip to Japan.

“Turkey is against sanctions, we don't believe any results can be achieved through the sanctions," he added.

"I think instead of sanctions, meaningful dialogue and engagement is much more useful."

Washington has imposed two sets of sanctions this year after pulling out of a nuclear pact agreed between world powers and Iran that President Donald Trump slammed as "defective".

The latest round went into effect on Monday. 

Washington has granted eight countries, including Turkey and Japan, waivers to allow them to continue importing Iranian oil without facing diplomatic consequences.

The new sanctions have sparked furious reactions from Iran, whose President Hassan Rouhani said the country would "proudly bypass your illegal, unjust sanctions.”

On Monday, Washington vowed to be "relentless" in countering Iran, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying the US wanted Iran to make a "180-degree turn" and abandon its "current revolutionary course.”

UN inspectors say Iran is abiding by an agreement reached with Trump's predecessor Barack Obama to draw down its nuclear program. That deal was backed by European powers, Russia and China and sealed by a UN Security Council resolution.

Those other parties to the nuclear deal have vehemently opposed the US move and vowed to keep alive the accord, technically known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

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US Issues Waivers to Allow Iran Deal to Continue

The United States said Monday it was issuing waivers to allow the continuation of a nuclear deal with Iran, after declaring the agreement a disaster and slapping sweeping sanctions.

Hours after sanctions went into effect that ban most trade with Iran, the State Department said it was exempting projects set up through the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated under former president Barack Obama.

The international activities at Bushehr, Iran's only nuclear power station, as well as the Fordow enrichment plant and the Arak heavy water reactor will be allowed "to continue under the strictest scrutiny to ensure transparency and maintain constraints on Iran," the State Department said in a statement.

"This oversight enhances our ability to constrain Iran's program and keep pressure on the regime while we pursue a new, stronger deal," it said.

The State Department said the waivers were "temporary," without specifying a timeframe, and "conditional on the cooperation of the various stakeholders."

The 2015 agreement promised that world powers would assist Iran in developing civilian nuclear energy—the clerical regime's stated goal for its atomic program.

Russia has supplied fuel for the Bushehr reactor. The Arak site, which could eventually be used to produce plutonium, is being redesigned under the deal to ensure it does not, with spent fuel to be shipped out.

Russia is also working with Iran on isotope production at Fordow to ensure that the site works toward medical purposes rather than uranium enrichment.

The other parties to the deal—Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia along with the European Union—say that the accord remains in force and is working, noting that UN inspectors report that Iran has complied.

President Donald Trump has called the agreement a "disaster" and, as of Monday, the United States will sanction countries and companies that do business with Iran or buy its oil.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday the United States wants Iran to undertake a "180-degree" change that includes cutting off support for regional proxies such as Hezbollah and ending missile tests.

Photo Credit: Wikicommons

US to Exempt China, India, Japan from Iran Oil Sanctions: Pompeo

The United States will exempt China, India and Japan from oil sanctions on Iran, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday, while vowing to be "relentless" in pressuring Tehran.

Hours after sweeping sanctions were reimposed following the US withdrawal from a denuclearization deal, Pompeo said eight countries would be at least temporarily exempt from the ban on buying Iranian oil due to special circumstances or so as not to disrupt energy markets.

The countries with the waivers will be China, India, Italy, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey, Pompeo said.

“Our objective is to starve the Iranian regime of the funds it uses to fund violent activity throughout the Middle East and around the world. Our ultimate goal is to encourage them to abandon their revolutionary course," Pompeo told reporters.

A notable omission was Iraq. Had Iraq been granted a waiver, Iran might have been able to skirt sanctions by mixing its crude with its neighbor's output, analysts say.

President Donald Trump withdrew in May from the deal that his predecessor Barack Obama had reached with Iran, calling it a failure because it addressed only the clerical regime's nuclear program.

Pompeo reiterated demands for Iran to make a "180-degree turn" from its regional policies rooted in the 1979 Islamic revolution, such as support for the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.

“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.

Pompeo said the eight countries exempted have "already demonstrated reduction of Iranian crude over the past six months and, indeed, two of those eight have already completely ended imports of Iranian crude and will not resume as long as the sanctions remain in place."

"We continue negotiations to get all of the nations to zero," he said.

Pompeo also said without specifying that the United States would exempt three non-proliferation projects underway in Iran from the sanctions.

European powers have strongly disagreed with Trump's decision, pointing out that Iran is abiding by the nuclear agreement, and have looked to create ways to allow its businesses to keep up commerce with the country.

Photo Credit: Deposit Photos

Iran Vows to 'Proudly Bypass' US Sanctions

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said the Islamic republic "will proudly bypass sanctions" by the United States that took effect on Monday targeting the country's oil and financial sectors.

"I announce that we will proudly bypass your illegal, unjust sanctions because it's against international regulations," Rouhani said in a televised speech.

"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.

The measures described by Washington as "the toughest sanctions ever" follow US President Donald Trump's controversial decision in May to abandon the multi-nation nuclear deal with Tehran.

The latest tranche aim to significantly cut Iran's oil exports—which have already fallen by around one million barrels a day since May—and cut it off from international finance.

The United States has given temporary exemptions to eight countries—including India, Japan and Turkey—to continue buying oil in a bid to avoid disturbing their economies and global markets.

But US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed to push Iran's oil sales to zero.

"Watch what we do. Watch as we've already taken more crude oil off the market than any time in previous history," he told CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday.

Trump's administration says it wants a new deal with Iran that curbs its interventions around the Middle East and missile program—demands that have been flatly rejected by Tehran.

"Constantly they are sending us messages saying 'Let's sit and negotiate.' Negotiations for what?" said Rouhani.

"First, you respect the negotiations we already concluded, so that there are grounds for the next negotiations."

'Act on Your Commitments'

Rouhani said four countries had approached him during his visit to New York for the UN General Assembly in September, offering to mediate with the US but he turned them down.

"There is no need for mediation. There is no need for all these messages. Act on your commitments, and we will sit and talk," he said.

Iran's economy was already suffering from major structural problems—including major banking issues—before Trump walked out of the nuclear deal.

But Trump's announcement in May helped fuel a run on Iran's currency that has seen the rial lose more than two thirds of its value, driving up prices and forcing the government to resort to food handouts for the country's poor.

Rouhani came to power in 2013, vowing to rebuild ties with the world and attract billions of dollars in foreign investment.

The other parties to the nuclear deal—Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia—have all vehemently opposed the US move and vowed to keep trade going, though they are struggling to convince private companies to stand up to US pressure.

Most of the international firms who lined up to work in Iran after the 2015 deal have been forced to leave, including France's Total, Peugeot and Renault, Germany's Siemens.

"Today, it's not just us who are angry with America's policies. Even European companies and governments are angry with America's policies," said Rouhani.

Photo Credit: IRNA

Transcript: Pompeo and Mnuchin Brief Reporters on Forthcoming Iran Sanctions

This transcript was published by the Office of the Spokesperson at the U.S. Department of State. The briefing took place on November 2, 2018.

MS NAUERT:  Thank you, sir.  Good morning, everyone, and welcome to today’s on-the-record call on the Iran snapback sanctions.  We’re pleased to have with us Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin.  They will each have brief remarks at the top and then take several of your questions.  We’ll start first with Secretary Pompeo. 

Secretary, please, go ahead.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Thank you, Heather.  Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining the call.  Earlier this year, President Trump withdrew from the fatally flawed nuclear deal and implemented a new campaign aimed at fundamentally altering the behavior of the Islamic Republic of Iran.  This part of the campaign about which we’re speaking today is simple.  It is aimed at depriving the regime of the revenues that it uses to spread death and destruction around the world.  Our ultimate aim is to compel Iran to permanently abandon its well-documented outlaw activities and behave as a normal country.

Today, Secretary Mnuchin and I will discuss one of the many lines of effort to achieve these fundamental changes in the Iranian regime’s behavior as directed by the President.  While important, these economic sanctions are just a part of the U.S. Government’s total effort to change the behavior of the Ayatollah Khomeini, Qasem Soleimani, and the Iranian regime.

On November 5th, the United States will reimpose sanctions that were lifted as part of the nuclear deal on Iran’s energy, ship building, shipping, and banking sectors.  These sanctions hit at the core areas of Iran’s economy.  They are necessary to spur changes we seek on the part of the regime. 

In order to maximize the effect of the President’s pressure campaign, we have worked closely with other countries to cut off Iranian oil exports as much as possible.  We expect to issue some temporary allotments to eight jurisdictions, but only because they have demonstrated significant reductions in their crude oil and cooperation on many other fronts and have made important moves towards getting to zero crude oil importation. These negotiations are still ongoing.  Two of the jurisdictions will completely end imports as part of their agreements.  The other six will import at greatly reduced levels.

Let me put this in context for you.  The Obama administration issued SREs to 20 countries multiple times between 2012 and 2015.  We will have issued, if our negotiations are completed, eight and have made it clear that they are temporary.  Not only did we decide to grant many fewer exemptions, but we demanded much more serious concessions from these jurisdictions before agreeing to allow them to temporarily continue to import Iranian crude oil.  These concessions are critical to ensure that we increase our maximum pressure campaign and accelerate towards zero.

Our laser-focused approach is succeeding in keeping prices stable with a benchmark Brent price right about where it was in May of 2018 when we withdrew from the JCPOA.  Not only is this good for American consumers and the world economy, it also ensures that Iran is not able to increase its revenue from oil as its exports plummet.  We will, we expect, have reduced Iranian crude oil exports by more than 1 million barrels even before these sanctions go into effect. 

This massive reduction since May of last year is three to five times more than what many analysts were projecting when President Trump announced our withdrawal from the deal back in May.  We exceeded our expectations for one simple reason: Maximum pressure means maximum pressure.

The State Department closed the Obama era condensate loophole which allowed countries to continue importing condensate from Iran even while sanctions were in place.  This loophole allowed millions of dollars to continue to flow to the regime. 

This administration is treating condensate the same as crude since the regime makes no distinction between the two when it decides to spend its oil revenue on unlawful ballistic missiles, terrorism, cyberattacks, and other destabilizing activities like the assassination plot Denmark disclosed this past week. 

And starting today, Iran will have zero oil revenue to spend on any of these things.  Let me say that again.  Zero.  One hundred percent of the revenue that Iran receives from the sale of crude oil will be held in foreign accounts and can be used by Iran only for humanitarian trade or bilateral trade in nonsanctioned goods and services.  

These new sanctions will accelerate the highly successful effects of our sanctions that have already occurred.  The maximum pressure we imposed has caused the rial to drop dramatically, Rouhani’s cabinet is in disarray, and the Iranian people are raising their voices even louder against a corrupt and hypocritical regime.

On that note, our actions today are targeted at the regime, not the people of Iran, who have suffered grievously under this regime.  It’s why we have and will maintain many humanitarian exemptions to our sanctions including food, agriculture commodities, medicine, and medical devices. 

I will now turn the call over to Secretary Mnuchin.

SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  Thank you very much.  Since the beginning of the Trump administration, the Treasury Department has been committed to putting a stop to Iran’s destabilizing activities across the world.  We’ve engaged a massive economic pressure campaign against Iran, which remains the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.  To date, we have issued 19 rounds of sanctions on Iran, designating 168 targets as part of our maximum pressure campaign.  We have gone after the financial networks that the Iranian regime uses to fuel its terrorist proxies and Hizballah and Hamas, to fund the Houthis in Yemen, and to support the brutal Assad regime in Syria.

The 180-day wind-down period ends at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Sunday November 4th.  As of Monday November 5th, the final round of snapback sanctions will be enforced on Iran’s energy, shipping, shipbuilding, and financial sectors.  As part of this action on Monday, the Treasury Department will add more than 700 names to our list of blocked entities.  This includes hundreds of targets previously granted sanctions relief under the JCPOA, as well as more than 300 new designations.  This is substantially more than we ever have previously done.  Sanctions lifted under the terms of Iran’s nuclear deal will be reimposed on individuals, entities, vessels, and aircraft that touch numerous segments of Iran’s economy.  This will include Iran’s energy sector and financial sectors.  We are sending a very clear message with our maximum pressure campaign that the U.S. intends to aggressively enforce our sanctions.  Any financial institution, company, or individual who evades our sanctions risks losing access to the U.S. financial system and the ability to do business with the United States or U.S. companies.  We are intent on ensuring that global funds stop flowing to the coffers of the Iranian regime. 

I want to make a couple of comments on the SWIFT messaging systems since I’ve received lots of questions about this over the last few weeks.  So I’d like to make four points.  Number one, SWIFT is no different than any other entity.  Number two, we have advised SWIFT the Treasury will aggressively use its authorities as necessary to continue intense economic pressure on the Iranian regime, and that SWIFT would be subject to U.S. sanctions if it provides financial messaging services to certain designated Iranian financial institutions.  Number three, we have advised SWIFT that is must disconnect any Iranian financial institution that we designate as soon as technologically feasible to avoid sanctions exposure.  Number four, just as was done before, humanitarian transactions to nondesignated entities will be allowed to use the SWIFT messaging system as they have done before, but banks must be very careful that these are not disguised transactions or they could be subject to certain sanctions.  Thank you very much.

MS NAUERT:  Thank you, sirs.  Why don’t we go ahead, take our first question.  We’ll go to Matt Lee with the Associated Press.  Matt, go ahead.

QUESTION:  Thank you, Heather.  Both – either or both of you, on SWIFT, there are a lot of complaints among the President’s allies in Congress that this does not go far enough, and that without designating – without going after SWIFT harder for these messaging transactions, that it allows a serious loophole.  I understand Secretary Mnuchin’s four points on it, but how will you address this criticism?  Because it’s already coming even before this announcement today.

SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  Okay, well let me – Secretary Mnuchin – let me make some comments.  First of all, I think there’s been a lot of fueled misinformation as it relates to SWIFT and what we’re doing with SWIFT.  So that’s why I want to be very clear.  So one, okay, I think there was information that SWIFT would not be subject to sanctions.  That’s not the case.  SWIFT will be subject to sanctions.  Number two, as I said, that – could be subject to sanctions, excuse me.  Number two, it is our intent that they cut off designated entities as was done before.  And again, I think there’s misinformation that they cut off everybody last time.  Again, they did allow for certain entities to do humanitarian transactions consistent with what’s allowed under our sanctions.  There are exceptions for humanitarian sanctions, but I want to very clear, people need to be careful that those are real humanitarian – those are real humanitarian transactions.  So again, I would just say I – hopefully this will clarify the misinformation that’s out there.

MS NAUERT:  Next question, we’ll go to Nick Wadhams from Bloomberg.

QUESTION:  Hi.  I had a question about the oil sanctions going into effect.  Will those include – or will there be exceptions granted for nonhumanitarian transactions such as consumer goods, as were allowed last time, or will Iran only be allowed – or will Iran only be allowed to spend revenue that it gains through – on humanitarian items?  And then second, if you’re giving eight waivers and two jurisdictions are already cutting imports to zero, what’s the point of giving them – those two jurisdictions waivers?  Thanks.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Nick, this is Mike Pompeo.  With respect to your first point, you’ll see the details on Monday.  There are nonhumanitarian goods that we included in there, but they’re small.  They’re ones that you would’ve already seen in the exemptions that were granted under the direction of the President.  Second, some of these will take a few months to get to zero.  So by November 5th they won’t be there.  That’s the purpose of those exemptions, to give them a little bit longer to wind down.  Weeks.

MS NAUERT:  Pardon me?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Weeks longer to wind down.

MS NAUERT:  Next question, Mike Warren from the Weekly Standard.

QUESTION:  Hi, gentlemen, thank you.  I want to follow-up on Matt’s questions about SWIFT.  Secretary Mnuchin, you said that certain financial institutions in Iran will be cut off from SWIFT.  Could you explain exactly which financial institutions, or maybe the financial institutions described in a Treasury FAQ, the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian financial institutions described in section 104(c)(2) blah blah blah – could you be more specific about which institutions?  And how can – how can the United States Government be confident in SWIFT’s ability to monitor transactions using SWIFT that they – I imagine there are numerous of these transactions going on daily.  How can the United States Government be confident that those are not transactions that are funding the bad actions that the government says is – they are trying to stop?

SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  So again, let me comment on the first issue, which – that the list of banks, which will be substantially longer than last time, will be coming out over the weekend.  And as it relates to monitoring transactions, again, financial institutions have liability for any transactions that go through SWIFT or any other mechanisms.  I’m being told the list will come out on Monday.  And again, it’s our expectation that that will be implemented as soon as technologically feasible.

MS NAUERT:  Okay, thank you.  Next question goes to Elise Labott from CNN.

QUESTION:  Thank you.  The question is for both secretaries, but maybe from a different angle.  Could you address the workaround that the Europeans are trying to institute to avoid U.S. banks, maybe using their own central banks or electronic transactions?  For Secretary Mnuchin, how much revenue do you think this would give the Iranians, and how seriously are you taking that in terms of a financial component?

And then Secretary Pompeo, could you talk about once these sanctions go into effect and if the Europeans do try to institute this workaround, what the diplomatic implications for relations with European allies?  Thank you.

SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  I’ll comment on the Special Purpose Vehicle.  I have no expectation that there will be any transactions that are significant that go through a Special Purpose Vehicle based upon what I’ve seen.  But when the details come out of some Special Purpose Vehicle, if there are sanctions – if there are transactions that go through there that have the intent of evading our sanctions, we will aggressively pursue our remedies.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  And let me take the second part of that.  We’ve been working closely with the Europeans on this set of issues.  We’re very confident that our sanctions will be incredibly effective.  And frankly, I can prove that already.  As I stated, the Iranian economy today is already feeling the effects of this.  It’s already feeling the effects of this effort not because the sanctions have snapped back – that won’t occur until – on Monday – but because the world and Iran knew this was coming.  And so European entities of any scale that are doing business with the United States of America have already ceased their conduct with Iran.  There may be an exception to that, but there has been an enormous departure of European businesses.

So whatever it may be that the EU is proposing, the folks who have risk – financial risk, business risk, operation risk – have already made their decision about the effectiveness of the sanctions that will be reimposed this coming week.

MS NAUERT:  Our next question goes to Michele Kelemen with NPR.

QUESTION:  Yeah, hi, thank you.  One quick question that – just technically, which of the eight countries are getting these waivers?  And then secondly, for Secretary Pompeo, you said in one of your interviews this week that the U.S. wants to restore democracy in Iran.  Is that one of the goals of this campaign?  And if so, how do you make sure that these sanctions aren’t going to hurt average Iranians who, as you point out, are suffering under this corrupt regime?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Yes, thanks for the question.  The President’s policy is very clear:  We are looking to change the Iranian leadership’s behavior.  I laid out the 12 things we’ve asked them to do; that is the goal not only of what we’re speaking about this morning – and please don’t lose sight, we’re talking about a set of sanctions that will be reimposed on Monday.  The administration’s efforts to change Iranian behavior are far broader, far deeper, there are many other lines of effort.  We’re simply focused on this line of effort today because of the significance of November 5th.

My comments about restoring democracy are completely consistent with what we have described before.  We’re counting on the Iranian people to have the opportunity and we are working towards allowing the Iranian people to have the opportunity to have the government they want, a government that doesn’t take wealth from their country and spend it on malign activity around the world.  I mean, this is a regime that is conducting a assassination campaign inside of Europe today, murdering not Iranian citizens in those countries, but folks who live, reside, and are citizens of those European countries.  These are the behaviors we’re trying to change, and our every effort is aimed at giving the Iranian people the opportunity to have the government that they not only want but deserve.

MS NAUERT:  Next question:  Josh Rogin, Washington Post.

QUESTION:  Thank you so much for your time.  Thanks for your service.  I’d like to ask you about the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.  My understanding is that you waived secondary sanctions on foreign firms that do business with that organization, mostly Russian and Chinese firms that are involved in the Arak and Fordow facilities.  Why did you make that decision, and why are you letting Arak and Fordow continue?  And are there plans to change that in the future?  Thank you.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Thanks, thanks for the question.  We are not allowing the continued work to develop nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons systems in Arak and Fordow.  We will provide on Monday a complete explanation of what we’re going to do with the continued efforts to prevent those facilities from doing the things that put the world at risk through proliferation, and we’ll give you all the detail.  It’s a long and complex answer, but we’re happy to provide it to you on Monday morning.

MS NAUERT:  Final question to Arshad with Reuters, please.

QUESTION:  Two things.  One, exactly how many financial institutions are going to be redesignated, i.e. put back on the SDN list on Monday?  Previously I believe the number was close to or slightly above 30.  You said it would be substantially more.  How many is it going to be?

Secondly, you pointedly said that you were granting the exceptions to eight jurisdictions.  Is one of those jurisdictions the European Union, thereby covering a much larger group of countries, i.e. 28 EU member-states?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Steven, you want to go first?

SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  I’ll answer the first part.  So the bank list will come out on Monday.  Again, it will be more than last time, and again, we may continue to add banks to that in the future.  But the original list will come out on Monday and we’ll carefully monitor situations to add on more banks as needed.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  The second part of your question, we will provide the list of the eight jurisdictions on Monday.  The EU will not be receiving an SRE.

MS NAUERT:  The final question, Carol Morello, Washington Post.

QUESTION:  Hi, thanks for doing this.  Say in the past, the Iranians have blended their oil with foreign oil to evade sanctions, and there have already been reports that they are turning off the ID tags on their tankers.  So what in particular are you going to be doing to track their attempts to evade these sanctions?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Thanks for the question.  Make no mistake about it, the Iranians will do everything they can to circumvent these sanctions – that’s unsurprising to me.  They’ll turn off ships, they’ll try and do it through private vessels, they’ll try and find third parties that don’t interact with the United States to provide insurance mechanisms.  The list of Iranian efforts to circumvent these sanctions is long.  You should all recognize there’s a reason for that.  These sanctions are far tougher than the sanctions that have ever been imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran.  That is why they are so desperate to find ways to circumvent it. 

And I won’t speak to our efforts to counter those circumvention efforts.  There are many, they are varied, and make no mistake:  The United States is fully prepared to do all that we can to prevent Iran from circumventing not only the crude oil sanctions and the financial sanctions, but all of the designations and all of the other sanctions that are being reimposed this coming Monday and those that are already in place.

SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  And I would just add to that that anybody that does facilitate those transactions will be subject to sanctions and will be added to the list.

MS NAUERT:  Secretary Pompeo, Secretary Mnuchin, thank you so much for joining us.  Everyone, thanks for joining the call.  Have a great day.  We’ll be putting out a transcript shortly.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Thank you all. 

Photo Credit: Wikicommons

US Details New Sanctions to Hit Iran's Banks, Oil Industry

he United States will add 700 individuals and entities to its Iran blacklist and pressure the global SWIFT banking network to cut off Tehran when expanded sanctions are put in place next week, US officials said Friday.

But eight countries will be able to continue importing Iranian oil at lower levels in order to avoid upsetting global crude markets when the sanctions take effect on Monday, they said.

The US aims to cripple the Iranian economy to pressure Tehran to halt its nuclear activities and what the US says is broad support for "terrorism" in the region, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

The reimposition of sanctions "is aimed at depriving the regime of the revenues it uses to spread death and destruction around the world," Pompeo said.

"Our ultimate aim is to compel Iran to permanently abandon its well-documented outlaw activities and behave as a normal country."

The sanctions come six months after President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal struck between world powers and Iran.

At the time, he began reimposing sanctions that had been suspended or removed by his predecessor Barack Obama. That process will be completed starting from midnight Sunday, US eastern time, when sanctions on the regime's banks, shippers, shipbuilders and oil sector are imposed.

The impact remains in question as other countries, particularly Washington's European allies, resist joining its effort to economically strangle the Tehran regime.

The European Union has gone so far as to protect businesses that operate in Iran. It has announced plans for a legal framework through which firms can skirt US sanctions, although few major corporations have been eager to risk the wrath of penalties in the world's largest economy.

"This is not 2012 when the world was united behind sanctions against Iran. This is the Trump administration trying to force the rest of the world to go along with a policy that most countries do not accept," said Barbara Slavin, an Iran expert at the Washington-based Atlantic Council.

"The US has had some success in terms of frightening away major corporations. The sanctions hurt a lot. But Iran is still going to be able to sell oil," especially to China, she said.

Oil Trade Exemptions

Pompeo said the US will grant exemptions to eight countries that have pledged to or have already cut back on purchases of petroleum from Iran, which has long depended on crude exports to power its economy.

He did not name the eight countries, but they are believed to include India, Japan, South Korea, and possibly China.

Pompeo said the countries agreed that the payments for the oil will go into offshore accounts that Iran will only be able to tap for "humanitarian trade, or bilateral trade in non-sanctioned goods and services."

"Maximum pressure means maximum pressure," Pompeo said.

To punish Iranian banks, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the global financial network SWIFT—which enables secure bank-to-bank communications and transactions -- will also be subject to US sanctions if it provides services to Iranian financial institutions on the US blacklist, which includes most major Iranian banks.

That could make it very hard for Iran to do business with other countries.

"SWIFT is no different than any other entity," Mnuchin said.

US Objective in Question

Justifying the action, Pompeo has issued a list of demands for Iran that go well beyond the nuclear program that was the focus of Obama's deal.

He wants the Shiite clerical regime to withdraw from war-ravaged Syria, where it is a critical ally of President Bashar al-Assad, and to end longstanding support to regional militant movements Hezbollah and Hamas.

The US also wants Iran to stop backing Yemen's Huthi rebels, who are facing a US-supported air campaign led by Saudi Arabia.

But experts don't expect Iran's leaders to immediately throw in the towel.

"It's basically magical thinking. The Iranians have been able to continue their support to regional proxies and allies for 40 years despite economic pressure," said Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group.

He said the Trump administration believed that a constrained, struggling Iran would see its influence erode. But the final goal, he said, was unclear.

"I think the end-game depends on who you're asking. The president himself is interested in having a broader, better deal with the Iranians, but I believe that most of his national security team are interested in either destabilizing Iran or assuring a regime change in Tehran," Vaez said.

Photo Credit: State.gov

Denmark Says Consulting Allies Over Possible Iran Sanctions

Denmark said Wednesday it was consulting with its allies about possible sanctions against Iran after accusing Tehran of plotting an attack against Iranian dissidents living in the Scandinavian country.

"We are going to reach out to our European allies in the coming days to try to find a united response," Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters during a meeting of Northern European leaders in Oslo.

British Prime Minister Theresa May expressed her support for Denmark at the meeting.

Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen was to begin contacting his European counterparts on Wednesday to discuss possible sanctions against Iran—most likely economic ones, a diplomatic source told AFP.

"We want to preserve the nuclear agreement," Lokke Rasmussen said, referring to how possible sanctions would approach the 2015 international accord on Iran's nuclear program.

Denmark on Tuesday announced it was recalling its ambassador to Iran after the Danish intelligence service PET accused the Iranian intelligence service of "planning an attack in Denmark" against three Iranians suspected of belonging to the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz or ASMLA.

ASMLA is a separatist group that advocates an Arab state in a southwestern Iranian province. Tehran calls it a terrorist organization. 

A Norwegian of Iranian origin was arrested on October 21 for allegedly planning the attack and spying for Iran.

Iran has denied the allegations, saying they were part of a European conspiracy against the Islamic Republic.

NATO Allies

Tehran summoned the Danish ambassador on Wednesday, foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said.

"In this meeting the (senior foreign ministry) official strongly denied the biased reports on a foiled attack plot on an Iranian dissident in Denmark and its attribution to the Islamic republic of Iran," Ghasemi said.

In late September, Tehran accused Denmark, the Netherlands and Britain of "hosting several members of the terrorist group" that Iran holds responsible for an attack in the mainly ethnic Arab city of Ahvaz in southwestern Iran.

The September 22 attack, during which five commandos opened fire on a military parade, left 24 people dead.

The so-called Islamic State group and a separatist Arab group claimed responsibility, and Iran staged several operations in Iraq and Syria in response.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that Washington stood behind Denmark, a NATO ally.

In Oslo for a meeting of the Nordic Council, Northern European leaders were prudent.

"We're working on a concrete response. We've said that we will react," Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said.

"We are following this very closely together with our Danish friends and when we know more we will make a decision about possible measures," Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said.

Photo Credit: Wikicommons

Pompeo 'Disturbed' by EU Payment Plan for Iran Business

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced Tuesday a European Union plan to set up a way to preserve business with Iran and avoid renewed American sanctions.

Addressing the United Against a Nuclear Iran pressure group being held near the annual UN General Assembly, Pompeo said he was "disturbed and indeed deeply disappointed" by Monday's announcement from remaining members of an international nuclear deal.

"This is one of the most counterproductive measures imaginable for regional peace and security," Pompeo said, accusing the European Union of "solidifying Iran's ranking as the number-one state sponsor of terrorism."

"I imagine the corrupt ayatollahs and IGRC were laughing this morning," Pompeo added at the event in New York, referring to the elite Revolutionary Guards, in a speech that was interrupted several times by anti-war protesters.

President Donald Trump pulled out of an agreement negotiated under his predecessor Barack Obama for Iran to curtail its nuclear program sharply in exchange for sanctions relief.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, speaking late Monday alongside Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, said that the agreement was in the global interest and pointed to UN inspectors' findings that Iran is in compliance.

She said that European Union members were working on a legal entity that would allow businesses to buy oil and conduct other business with Iran in hopes of avoiding US sanctions.

Photo Credit: UANI

Trump Says Open to New Iran Deal, Confirms Sanctions Return

US President Donald Trump said Monday he remains open to forging a new nuclear deal with Iran, as he confirmed Washington will go ahead with reimposing sanctions against Tehran.

Despite pleas from other parties to the agreement, Trump pulled the US out of the deal in May, claiming the Iranian regime was cheating on its commitments and funding "malign" activities around the region.

"I remain open to reaching a more comprehensive deal that addresses the full range of the regime's malign activities, including its ballistic missile program and its support for terrorism," Trump said in a statement.

A first phase of US sanctions against Iran goes into effect overnight, targeting Iran's access to US banknotes and key industries including cars and carpets.

The second phase, which takes effect November 5 and will block Iran's oil sales, is due to cause more damage, though several countries including China, India and Turkey have indicated they are not willing to entirely cut their Iranian energy purchases.

Trump called the multilateral Iran accord a "horrible, one-sided deal."

It "failed to achieve the fundamental objective of blocking all paths to an Iranian nuclear bomb, and it threw a lifeline of cash to a murderous dictatorship that has continued to spread bloodshed, violence and chaos," he said.

After months of fierce rhetoric, Trump surprised observers last week when he offered to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani without preconditions. 

But Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggested it was hard to imagine negotiating with the man who tore up an agreement on which Iran and  world powers had spent the "longest hours in negotiating history."

Trump warned that businesses and individuals that continue to work with Tehran risk "severe" consequences.

"We urge all nations to take such steps to make clear that the Iranian regime faces a choice: either change its threatening, destabilizing behavior and reintegrate with the global economy, or continue down a path of economic isolation," he said.

Photo Credit: Wikicommons

As Sanctions Bite, Where Next for Trump's Iran Strategy

A wave of US sanctions kicks in against Iran on Tuesday, cementing Washington's hard line against Tehran after President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear pact.

Already facing broad economic fallout as their currency implodes, Iranians are wondering how the next phase of the crisis in US relations will play out—and what, exactly, America's longterm strategy is toward their country.

At least for now, the US is fixated on bringing as much diplomatic and economic pressure to Iran as possible—though it is not clear where things are headed, or if there is an increased risk of conflict.

The US walked out of the 2015 nuclear deal in May and is bringing back "maximum pressure" sanctions for most sectors on August 6, and the energy sector on November 4. 

As of 0401 GMT Tuesday, the Iran government can no longer buy US banknotes and broad sanctions will be slapped on Iranian industries, including its rug exports.

Asked Sunday if Tehran would be able to evade the measures, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed the United States would "enforce the sanctions," saying heaping pressure on Tehran was meant to "push back against Iranian malign activity."

"This is just about Iranians' dissatisfaction with their own government, and the President is pretty clear, we want the Iranian people to have a strong voice in who their leadership will be," he told reporters.

Room for dialogue?

After months of fierce rhetoric, Trump surprised observers last week when he offered to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani "any time"—and without preconditions.

The dramatic about-face, which Secretary of State Mike Pompeo quickly tamped down, came just days after the enigmatic US president and Rouhani traded barbs. 

Trump at one point unleashed a Twitter tirade in which he blasted, using all caps, Rouhani's "DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE."

He was responding to a July 22 warning from Rouhani that the US should not "play with the lion's tail" and warned that any conflict with Iran would be the "mother of all wars."

Trump's offer for dialogue came after Pompeo seemed to suggest support for a change in Iran leadership, telling an audience of Iranian expats in California that the regime had been a "nightmare."

And John Bolton, the president's national security advisor, is a well-known Iran hawk who has advocated for regime change. 

"For Bolton and others, pressure is an end in and of itself," Suzanne Maloney, deputy director of the foreign policy program at the Brookings Institution, told AFP.

For the administration, "if it leads to a wholesale capitulation fine, if it leads to regime change, even better," she added.

Under Pressure

Trump's pressure campaign appears to have had some results. For instance, US officials in recent years have accused both the regular Iranian navy and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps of routinely harassing American warships in the Gulf. 

But this year, to the surprise of some military officials, there have been no such incidents. 

If Iran senses "American steel they back down, if they perceive American mush they push forward—and right now they perceive steel," said Mark Dubowitz, chief executive of Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank that lobbied for a renegotiation of the Iran nuclear deal.

Dubowitz, who noted that Iran has tested fewer missiles of late, said Trump's rhetoric and position on Iran actually lowers the risk of escalation toward conflict. 

"He's assuming that if he talks tough, that will bolster the credibility of American military power," Dubowitz told AFP.

Both Trump and Rouhani are due to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York next month.

It's not inconceivable a meeting on the sidelines could occur then—Tehran will be looking anxiously to a November deadline for oil buyers to stop purchasing Iranian crude.

ver the weekend Trump once again floated the idea of meeting, tweeting "I will meet, or not meet, it doesn't matter—it is up to them!"

"Iran, and its economy, is going very bad, and fast!" he said in the same missive.

'Malign Influence'

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on July 27 there was no policy that had been put in place with the goal of collapsing or changing the Iranian regime.

"We need them to change their behavior on a number of threats they can pose with their military, with their secret services, with their surrogates and with their proxies," Mattis told Pentagon reporters.

Experts see a number of possible outcomes for the current US policy toward
Iran.

Sanctions and diplomatic pressure could pile enough pressure on the regime that it comes to the negotiating table—something Trump has advocated for. 

The financial crisis in Iran could worsen to the point that mass protests make it impossible for the regime to hold on to power—though economic pressures risk galvanizing growing anti-American sentiment and support for hardliners.

Or the regime could start to address what America calls its "malign influence" in the region, including its support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and threats to shut down the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for international oil supplies.  

"I think (the Trump administration) would be pleased with any one of those end states," Dubowitz said.

Photo Credit: Wikicommons

Trump Says Willing to Meet With Iranian Leaders 'Any Time'

US President Donald Trump said Monday he was willing to meet with Iran's leaders with "no preconditions" and "any time they want"—one week after tensions soared between Washington and Tehran.

"I would meet with Iran if they wanted to meet. I don't know if they are ready yet," Trump told a White House press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte at his side.

"No preconditions," he added. "They want to meet, I'll meet. Any time they want."

A week ago, after a provocative warning from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani not to "play with the lion's tail," Trump blasted back a reply on Twitter—in all caps.

"NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE," Trump warned Rouhani.

In May, Trump—who has made Iran his public enemy number one—announced the US withdrawal from what he called a "defective" multinational nuclear deal with Tehran, and moved to reinstate punishing sanctions.

The 2015 agreement came in response to fears that Iran was developing a nuclear bomb. Washington's European allies maintain their support for the deal and have vowed to stay in it, though their businesses fear US penalties.

"I ended the Iran deal. It was a ridiculous deal," Trump said. 

"If we could work something out that's meaningful, not the waste of paper that the other deal was, I would certainly be willing to meet."

Trump has repeatedly shown a willingness to cast traditional diplomatic protocol aside and meet with leaders shunned by other administrations, including North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. 

"I believe in meeting," Trump said Monday.

"Speaking to other people, especially when you are talking about potentials of war and death, and famine and lots of other things, you meet."

On July 23, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was not afraid to sanction top-ranking leaders of the "nightmare" Iranian regime.

Photo Credit: Wikicommons

Iranians Skeptical Over US Claims of Support

Tehranis said Monday they were deeply skeptical at Washington's claims that it stood with them against their government, as tensions rose again following the latest threats from US President Donald Trump.

"It's true that at the moment our society is in a crisis and under pressure that is creating discontent," said Haleh, a child psychologist in the north Tehran suburb of Jordan. "But we don't want the West to impose a revolution that can lead to disorder," she added. 

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave a much-hyped speech in California on Sunday in which he described Iran's government as "a nightmare for the Iranian people."

He announced an intensified American propaganda campaign so that "ordinary Iranians inside Iran and around the globe can know that America stands with them."

Trump added to the tensions on Sunday with an angry response to President Hassan Rouhani, who had warned a conflict with Iran would be the "mother of all wars".

"NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE," Trump blasted on Twitter.

Many Iranians—even those opposed to the current system—fear what they see as a push for regime change, especially after the US pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal and announced it was reimposing crippling financial sanctions.

"People want change, but not necessarily a change of regime," said office worker Firouzeh.

"It's been 40 years since the last revolution and we are still paying the price. An entire generation has paid the price. Do they really want another revolution?"

Regardless of how they view their government, Iranians are at least glad to have been spared the violence engulfing much of the region. 

"For us, the most important thing is security, and for now we have security. We must have reforms, but people hope it happens without violence so that everyone wins," said Haleh, the psychologist.

Others felt a deal was still possible with the US president. 

"Trump is a businessman," said Amir, who said he did multiple jobs to get by in Iran's struggling economy. 

"He'll make an offer and we'll reach a mutual agreement, with God's help."

He said all Iranians were worried about the economy, with large-scale unemployment, rising prices and a currency that has dropped to record lows against the dollar. 

"The government must listen to the problems of the people. It can be done, it's not impossible," said Amir. 

"But Iranians will not accept being forced (by outside powers). They will react to defend their national honor and dignity," he added. 

The head of Iran's powerful Basij militia said Trump's threats were "psychological warfare". 

"He is not in a position to act against Iran. The people and the armed forces will stand up against our enemies and will not come up short," said General Gholam Hossein Gheypour, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency. 

Photo Credit: Thomas Christofoletti

Trump Hits Back at Iran 'War' Talk

President Donald Trump on Sunday hit back at bellicose comments by Iran's president, warning him of consequences "the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered," as the US intensifies its campaign against the Islamic republic.

"NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE," Trump said on Twitter in a direct message to President Hassan Rouhani, who earlier Sunday warned Trump not to "play with the lion's tail," saying that conflict with Iran would be the "mother of all wars". 

The US president, writing his entire message in capital letters, continued his riposte: "WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!"

The high-stakes verbal sparring is reminiscent of the exchanges Trump had last year with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, before the two leaders met in a historic summit last month.

Trump has made Iran a favorite target since his rapprochement with nuclear-armed North Korea. His comments Sunday night came after his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a major address to the Iranian diaspora in California, said Washington is not afraid to sanction top-ranking leaders of the "nightmare" Iranian regime.

Trump in May pulled the US out of a hard-won agreement with Tehran, also signed by Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, which lifted sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran's nuclear program.

The 2015 agreement was in response to fears that Iran was developing a nuclear bomb.

European allies maintain their support for the deal and have vowed to stay in it, though their businesses fear US penalties.

Following Washington's pullout Pompeo unveiled Washington's tougher line under which, he said, the US would lift its new sanctions if Iran ended its ballistic missile program and interventions in regional conflicts from Yemen to Syria.

"You cannot provoke the Iranian people against their own security and interests," Rouhani said in a televised speech Sunday, ahead of Pompeo's address. 

'More to Come'

Rouhani repeated his warning that Iran could shut down the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for international oil supplies. 

"Peace with Iran would be the mother of all peace and war with Iran would be the mother of all wars," Rouhani said. 

On Saturday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the US does not abide by agreements.

"As I have previously said, we cannot trust in the words of the United States and even in their signature, so negotiations with the United States are useless," Khamenei told a gathering of Iranian diplomats in Tehran. 

Pompeo on Sunday noted that the US in January had already sanctioned Sadeq Larijani, the head of Iran's judiciary, for human rights violations.

"We weren't afraid to tackle the regime at its highest level," he said, also confirming that Washington wants all countries to reduce their imports of Iranian oil "as close to zero as possible" by November 4, or face American sanctions.

 "There's more to come," Pompeo said of the US financial penalties.

"Regime leaders—especially those at the top of the IRGC and the Quds Force like Qasem Soleimani—must be made to feel painful consequences of their bad decision making," said Pompeo, a longtime Iran hawk. He was referring to Iran's special forces and Revolutionary Guards.

Roundly applauded by his audience, Pompeo affirmed support by Washington for protesters in the Islamic republic.

"The regime in Iran has been a nightmare for the Iranian people," he said.

Washington's top diplomat announced an intensified American propaganda campaign, with the launch of a multimedia channel with 24-hour coverage on television, radio, and social media.

This will ensure that "ordinary Iranians inside Iran and around the globe can know that America stands with them," he said.

Regularly suspected of favoring regime change in Iran, Pompeo refused to distinguish between moderates and radicals at the heart of the Islamic republic.

"Our hope is that ultimately the regime will make meaningful changes in its behavior both inside Iran and globally," he said.

Photo Credit: Wikicommons

US Not Afraid to Sanction Top Iran Leaders: Pompeo

The United States is not afraid to sanction top-ranking leaders of the "nightmare" Iranian regime, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday, pursuing a strategy aimed at Iranian compliance with stringent US demands.

Following Washington's pullout from the Iran nuclear accord that stunned Washington's closest European allies, Pompeo on May 21 unveiled the "new strategy" to force Iran's submission to a dozen demands.

"We weren't afraid to tackle the regime at its highest level," Pompeo said in a speech to the Iranian diaspora in California, referring to sanctions leveled in January against Sadeq Larijani, the head of Iran's judiciary, for human rights violations.

Pompeo also confirmed that Washington wants all countries to reduce their imports of Iranian oil "as close to zero as possible" by November 4, or face American sanctions.

"There's more to come," Pompeo said of the US financial penalties.

US President Donald Trump on May 8 decided to restore all the sanctions that had been lifted as part of a multi-national agreement, signed on to by former president Barack Obama's administration in exchange for curbs on Iran's nuclear program.

The 2015 agreement was in response to fears that Iran was developing a nuclear bomb. 

European allies maintain their support for that hard-won deal and are trying all means to save it.

"Regime leaders—especially those at the top of the IRGC and the Quds Force like Qasem Soleimani—must be made to feel painful consequences of their bad decision making," said Pompeo, a longtime Iran hawk.

He was referring to Iran's special forces and Revolutionary Guards.

Roundly applauded by his audience, Pompeo affirmed support by Washington for protesters in the Islamic republic.

"The regime in Iran has been a nightmare for the Iranian people," he said.

Pompeo announced an intensified American propaganda campaign, with the launch of a multimedia channel with 24-hour coverage on television, radio, and social media.

This will ensure that "ordinary Iranians inside Iran and around the globe can know that America stands with them," he said. 

Regularly suspected of favoring regime change in Iran, Pompeo refused to distinguish between moderates and radicals at the heart of the Iranian republic.

"Our hope is that ultimately the regime will make meaningful changes in its behavior both inside Iran and globally," he said.

Under Washington's tougher line after withdrawal from the international nuclear accord, Pompeo has said the US would lift its new sanctions if Iran ended its ballistic missile program and interventions in regional conflicts from Yemen to Syria.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has dismissed such threats, saying the rest of the world no longer accepts Washington making decisions on their behalf.

Photo Credit: State Department

Pompeo to Urge Iranians Abroad to 'Support' Anti-Regime Protests

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans on Sunday to urge members of the Iranian diaspora to "support" protesters in Iran, as the Trump administration hints at a desire for regime change in Tehran after turning its back on the Iranian nuclear accord. 

President Donald Trump—who has made the Islamic republic a favorite target since his unexpected rapprochement with North Korea—decided on May 8 to restore all the sanctions that had been lifted as part of the multi-nation agreement aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Following the US withdrawal that stunned even Washington's closest European allies, Pompeo on May 21 unveiled a "new strategy" intended to force Iran to yield to a dozen stringent demands or else face the "strongest sanctions in history."  

The next US step is due at 6:00 pm Sunday (0100 GMT Monday) in the Ronald Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley, California, when the secretary of state delivers a speech entitled "Supporting Iranian Voices."

With the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution of 1979 a year away, Pompeo plans to retrace "40 years of stealing from the Iranian people, the terrorism they have committed around the region, the brutal repression at home" as well as the "religious persecution" there, a senior State Department official told reporters ahead of the speech.

The venue for Pompeo's address is significant, the official noted: some 250,000 Iranian-Americans live in Southern California.   

"He will be exposing some of the corruption" of a "kleptocratic regime," the diplomat told reporters. "The regime has prioritized its ideological agenda over the welfare of the Iranian people."

'Demands For a Better Life'

Pompeo launched his campaign against Iran on Twitter last month, saying the government in Tehran and the Revolutionary Guards—the regime's elite armed
corps—had "plundered the country's wealth" in proxy wars "while Iranian families struggle."

The Trump administration's strategy appears simple: to exploit the already growing tensions within Iranian society that are being exacerbated by renewed US sanctions that have forced some foreign firms to leave.  

There have been a series of anti-government protests in Iran in recent months, prompted by an array of different issues and concerns.

The State Department briefer said Pompeo plans to support "the legitimate demands of the Iranian people, especially their economic demands for a better life."

But how far will he and the administration go?

"That's the key question," Behnam Ben Taleblu of the conservative pressure group Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told AFP. "Pompeo and the administration can do more than just rhetorical support to the Iranian protester."

How far will the US go?

Several Iranian dissidents have written to Pompeo to urge him to re-establish punitive measures against the state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting network, which they accuse of abetting human rights violations.  

Word of Pompeo's planned speech has fanned speculation on Washington's precise intentions.

The State Department insists that the US seeks merely a "change in behavior" by the regime.

But some senior members of the Trump administration.—notably national security advisor John Bolton.—have made it clear in the past that they would like to see the Tehran regime topple, and Pompeo himself said in May that "the Iranian people get to choose for themselves the kind of leadership they want."

To Behnam Ben Taleblu, "genuine regime change can only come from inside." 

With an upsurge of "Iranians of all different social classes protesting," he said, the Trump administration will have to decide whether it wants to "support elements that actually want to change the regime."

Diplomats and experts in Washington are divided as to whether the protests and social tensions within Iran pose a true threat to the Islamic republic. 

Nor is there agreement on what it would actually mean should the Iranian regime fall—but some find that uncertainty deeply worrying.

"The more likely result of regime collapse would be a military coup in the name of restoring order, led by the man Washington's Iran hawks fear the most: Gen. Qasem Suleimani," the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, according to Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

"Exerting maximum pressure on Iran could bring about America's worst nightmare," he added on Twitter.

Photo Credit: Wikicommons

Pompeo Urges EU to Get Tough on Iran

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged European powers to get behind American measures to cut Iran off from world energy markets Thursday, during talks in Brussels.

While debate at the nearby NATO summit was marked by President Donald Trump's attacks on Germany's close energy ties with Russia, his top diplomat had another target.

Pompeo peeled off from Trump's summit entourage and joined US Energy Secretary Rick Perry and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini at the EU-US energy council.

Pompeo made no statement going into the talks, but his Twitter account showed what was on his mind.

"Iran continues to send weapons across the Middle East, in blatant violation of UN Security Council resolutions," he wrote.

"Iran's regime wants to start trouble wherever it can. It's our responsibility to stop it."

Then, just before the talks started, he added: "We ask our allies and partners to join our economic pressure campaign against Iran's regime. 

"We must cut off all funding the regime uses to fund terrorism and proxy wars," he warned. 

"There's no telling when Iran may try to foment terrorism, violence and instability in one of our countries next."

Alongside the tweet he posted a map of Europe purporting to show the locations of 11 "terror attacks" US officials believe Iran or its proxy Hezbollah have carried out since 1979.

Washington dismayed Europe in May when Trump pulled out of the 2015 accord under which Iran agreed to controls on its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

US sanctions have now "snapped back" into place and US officials have begun to hope that the economic pressure is fuelling domestic discontent against the Tehran regime.

European companies are reluctant to resume trade with Iran at the risk of being hit by US secondary sanctions, but the main EU capitals want to protect the accord.

They are thus resisting a US threat to impose sanctions on any entity trading in Iranian oil or dealing with the Iranian central bank after a November 4 deadline.

Photo Credit: Wikicommons

Trump Allies Push for Iran Regime Change

US President Donald Trump allies Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani on Saturday urged regime change in Iran, saying the prospect was closer than ever after the Islamic Republic was hit by a wave of strikes and protests.  

Former House speaker Gingrich and ex-New York mayor Giuliani also told a rally of thousands of Iranian opposition supporters in Paris that Trump needed to turn up the heat on European countries still seeking to do business with Tehran despite reimposed US sanctions.

"The only way to safety in the region is to replace the dictatorship with a democracy and that has to be our goal," Gingrich told the Free Iran rally, organized by exiled opponents including the former rebel People's Mojahedin which is banned in Iran.

He stressed he did not speak for the Trump administration, but added: "It seems to me there would be a rather happy celebration should regime change occur."

Gingrich said he did not support arming the Iranian opposition, saying Trump should instead heap on more sanctions after pulling out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.

And he blasted countries attempting to find ways to allow their companies to keep operating in Iran under the threat of penalties for US sanction-busting.

"We need to have a campaign to shame the European governments who are unwilling to support freedom and democracy," Gingrich said. "We need to insist that they join the sanctions once again."

Giuliani called for a boycott of companies "that continually do business with this regime".

"Freedom is right around the corner," he added of the recent protests in Iran.

Gingrich, Giuliani and other US politicians have been heavily paid to speak at the annual Paris rally in recent years.

Their comments came after US Secretary Mike Pompeo this week gave his backing to the strikes and protests over economic woes, not least the collapse of the currency following the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

On Monday traders at Tehran's Grand Bazaar staged a rare strike following earlier reports of street protests in provincial cities.

Iranians have been hit by rising prices, and record levels of unemployment have left a third of under 30s out of work.

The latest protests follow dozens over the new year which left at least 25 people dead.

The People's Mojahedin were founded in the 1960s against Iran's royalist government and went on to fight the Islamic regime after the 1979 revolution. 

In 2009 the European Union struck the Mojahedin from its list of terrorist organizations, where it had been since 2002. The United States did the same in 2012.

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Iran Accuses US of Breaking Promises

Iran cannot "interact" with the United States as it is a country whose word cannot be trusted, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

"The first experience is that the government of the Islamic Republic cannot interact with America... Why? Because America is not committed to its promises," Press TV quoted him in English as saying.

His comments came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday warned that Iran would be hit with the "strongest sanctions in history" and cautioned European firms against continuing to do business in Tehran.

The move was a toughening-up of Washington's policy line after its withdrawal on May 8 from a landmark nuclear pact aimed at preventing Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.

Pompeo outlined 12 tough conditions from Washington for any "new deal" with Tehran to make sure it "will never again have carte blanche to dominate the Middle East".

US President Donald Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal earlier this month despite intense diplomatic efforts by European allies who had beseeched him to stick with it by adding tougher new elements.

Trump opposed the 2015 deal with Iran—also signed by Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia—believing it did not go far enough.

The international community, including top US officials, said earlier Tehran had been in compliance with the terms of the deal but Trump despised it, pointing to other aspects of Iranian behavior not covered in the pact.

Photo Credit: khameini.ir