by WorldTribune Staff, May 21, 2018
The U.S. is imposing the “strongest sanctions in history” on Iran and the Islamic Republic will be “battling to keep its economy alive,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.
The “sting of sanctions will only grow more painful if the regime does not change its course,” Pompeo said in Washington on May 21 at the Heritage Foundation think tank.
Pompeo described sanctions imposed last week on the head of Iran’s central bank as “just the beginning. Iran will never again have carte blanche to dominate the Middle East.”
The secretary of state set 12 conditions for any “new deal” with Iran, including the withdrawal of its forces from Syria and an end to its support for rebels in Yemen.
Other conditions include Iran giving the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) a full account of its former nuclear military program, and giving up such work forever; ending its “threatening behavior” towards its neighbors, including “its threats to destroy Israel, and its firing of missiles into Saudi Arabia and the UAE”; and releasing all U.S. citizens, and those of U.S. partners and allies, “detained on spurious charges or missing in Iran.”
European firms are already reconsidering lucrative deals with Teheran after President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal.
French energy giant Total said it wound wind down its operations in the world’s largest gas field, worth up to $5 billion, by November unless the U.S. grants it a waiver.
Other deals that may be reconsidered include Norwegian firm Saga Energy’s $3 billion deal to build solar power plants and an Airbus deal to sell 100 jets to IranAir.
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