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U.S. slams Iran’s ‘nightmare regime’
Why it is news?
- Pompeo asks all countries to reduce their imports of Iranian oil by November 4, or face U.S. sanctions
- U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat against Iran on Monday came hours after his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a speech to the Iranian diaspora in California, slammed the “nightmare Iranian regime”.
What Pompeo says?
- “We weren’t afraid to tackle the regime at its highest level,” said Mr. Pompeo, adding that Washington wants all countries to reduce their imports of Iranian oil to “as close to zero as possible” by November 4, or face American sanctions. “There’s more to come,” Mr. Pompeo said of the U.S. 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 Mr. Pompeo, a long-time Iran hawk. He was referring to Iran’s special forces and Revolutionary Guards.
- Mr. Pompeo affirmed support by Washington for protesters in the Islamic Republic. “The regime in Iran has been a nightmare for the Iranian people.” He announced an intensified American propaganda campaign, with the launch of a multimedia channel with 24-hour coverage on television, radio, and social media.
- ‘Change your behaviour’
- Regularly suspected of favouring regime change in Iran, Mr. 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 behaviour both inside Iran and globally,” he said.
- Mr. Trump has made Iran a favourite target since his rapprochement with nuclear-armed North Korea. In May, he pulled the U.S. 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 programme.
- 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 U.S. penalties.
- On Sunday, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhnai had warned the U.S. against inciting Iranians against the regime. “You cannot provoke the Iranian people against their own security and interests,” Mr. Rouhani said in a televised speech on Sunday, ahead of Mr. Pompeo’s address.
- Rouhani’s warning
- Mr. 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,” Mr. Rouhani said.
- The head of Iran's Basij militia on Monday dismissed threats by U.S. President Donald Trump as “psychological warfare”, local media reported. “Trump’s statements against Iran are psychological warfare. He is not in a position to act against Iran,” said General Gholam Hossein Gheypour, according to the ISNA news agency.
Source
The Hindu