Lifting sanctions on Iran while it maintains its nuclear aspirations will endanger America and the world, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned in an interview for The Jerusalem Post-Khaleej Times conference this week.
“If we appease Iran, if we underwrite Iran, if we allow Europeans to reenter [Iran] and create wealth for the kleptocrats at the head of this theocracy, that would be a bad thing for the region’s security, for Europe’s security and for American security,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo expressed hope that President-elect Joe Biden’s administration “will recognize that this is not 2015…The whole world can recognize that Iran is the destabilizing influence in the whole Middle East.”
The Trump administration left the 2015 Iran deal in 2018, and has maintained a “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign against the Islamic Republic. Biden has said he intends to bring the US back to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the Iran deal’s official name, along with an Iranian return to compliance. Iran has repeatedly violated the agreement, most recently declaring last week that it would enrich uranium up to 20% in the underground Fordow facility.
As a result of the “maximum pressure,” Pompeo said “it’s very clear that Iran is more isolated than it has ever been.” READ MORE
