Iran’s economy will “crumble” under pressure from U.S. sanctions if the regime does not agree to a modified nuclear agreement that suits President Trump’s security requirements, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned on Monday.
“The Iranian regime has a choice: It can either do a 180-degree turn from its outlaw course of action and act like a normal country, or it can see its economy crumble,” Pompeo told reporters. “We hope a new agreement with Iran is possible, but until Iran makes changes in the 12 ways that I listed in May we will be relentless in exerting pressure on the regime.”
Pompeo’s remarks heralded the official “snap-back” of the oil and energy sanctions that then-President Barack Obama waived when he implemented the 2015 nuclear deal. The U.S. exit from the pact was nearly averted this year, but negotiations over a supplemental agreement failed as the Trump administration and European allies couldn’t unite on a path forward due to European concern that the U.S. demands would cause Iran to leave the agreement and resume nuclear weapons development.
“It should be noted that if a country evades our sanctions regime and secretly continues sanctionable commerce in the Islamic Republic, the United States will levy severe swift penalties on it, including potential sanctions,” Pompeo said. “I promise you that doing business with Iran in defiance of our sanctions will ultimately be a much more painful decision than pulling out of Iran and it being [dis]connected from Iran entirely.”
Pompeo added that eight waivers for the oil sanctions will be provided to China, India, Italy, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey. The administration has touted the goal of blocking all of Iran’s oil exports, but Pompeo allowed that those eight entities had made “significant reductions” and that an immediate total drop-off would disrupt the international energy markets.
“We continue negotiations to get all of the nations to zero,” he said.
Last week, those oil waivers troubled some of the most hawkish critics of the Iran nuclear deal, who had hoped the president would impose a “maximum pressure” campaign that could threaten the collapse of the regime entirely. But Pompeo received reinforcements Monday from one of his main partners on Capitol Hill dating back to their tenure as lawmakers serving in Congress together.
“Today’s sanctions are another important step in our efforts to punish Iran’s outlaw regime and pressure the ayatollahs to change their ways,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said. “I look forward to continuing to work with the administration to reduce Iran‘s oil exports and to cut off the ayatollahs from the global economy.”
Pompeo also confirmed that the administration would provide waivers for European countries engaged in civil nuclear cooperation at three Iranian facilities, as the Washington Examiner reported Friday.
“Allowing these activities to continue, for the time being, will improve ongoing oversight of Iran’s civil nuclear program and make these facilities less susceptible to illicit and illegal nuclear uses,” he said. “Rest assured, Iran will never come close to getting a nuclear weapon on President Trump’s watch.”
