Tehran faces a choice between “its destructive behavior” or “economic disaster,” said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Sunday, Nov. 4, the day before US sanctions, lifted after the 2015 nuclear deal, were re-imposed on Iran. He said he was confident that Tehran would at the end of the day accept President Donald Trump’s conditions for sanctions relief, i.e. limiting missile production and development, halting terrorism against other countries (he cited Denmark, where an Iranian assassination attempt was foiled ), withdrawing its forces from involvement in Middle East countries, like Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, and retire to behind its own borders.
The administration’s strategy is to punish Iran so severely that it’s compelled to negotiate a permanent end to its nuclear ambitions, as well as its “malign behavior” in the Middle East, he said. But the signal coming from Tehran is just the opposite, DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources report.
Pompeo dismissed the international effort for helping Iran bypass the US embargo on its oil sales and banking operations by China, Russia and the EU – the first global front ever set up to torpedo President Trump’s Iran policy. America is the big boy on the block, he stressed. Those countries can only help Iran marginally but can’t offset the penalties’ disastrous impact on Iran. None of them equal America in economic and financial clout or military might. The big corporations and banks in their countries will not give up business with the US for the sake of helping Tehran. In answer to another question, Pompeo said that in granting waivers to eight nations, Washington is trying to ensure that global oil prices don’t spike, especially in the middle of the US election season. (US midterm elections take place on Tuesday.)
The Secretary went on to say that US moves have “had an enormous impact already.” Iranian crude oil exports have been reduced by over 1 million barrels a day and will continue to fall. He added. “And the march to zero continues.” In addition, hundreds of businesses have left Iran since Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in May, and “any European companies doing business there won’t do business with the US. Iran is no substitute for the United States.” Tehran faces a choice between “its destructive behavior” or “economic disaster,” Pompeo stressed. READ MORE
