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US-DIPLOMACY-IRAN-NUCLEAR-POLITICS
Pompeo says would ‘happily’ go to Tehran
WASHINGTON, July 26, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
said Thursday he would “happily” go to Tehran to address tensions between the
two countries over US sanctions on the Gulf nation.
Pompeo explained in an interview with Bloomberg he would willingly appear
on Iranian television to explain US reasoning behind the sanctions.
“I would welcome the chance to speak directly to the Iranian people…
about what it is their leadership has done and how it has harmed Iran,” he
said.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have soared since President Donald
Trump pulled the US out of a deal with Iran last year that was aimed at
curbing its nuclear program, and imposed punishing sanctions.
The US has said it brought down one and possibly two Iranian drones last
week, and has blamed Iran for a series of mysterious attacks on tanker ships
in strategic Gulf waters.
Tehran shot down an unmanned US aircraft in June, after which Trump
announced that he had called off retaliatory air strikes at the last minute
because the resulting death toll would have been too high.
Iran’s top diplomat renewed accusations during a visit to the United
Nations last week that the US was using the sanctions to wage “economic
terrorism.”
Iranians are “subjected to the most brutal form of ‘economic terrorism’ —
deliberately targeting innocent civilians to achieve illegitimate political
objectives,” said Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Pompeo brushed the accusations aside Thursday, saying Zarif was no more in
charge of the Iranian government than “the man in the moon.”
“At the end of the day, this is driven by the ayatollah,” said Pompeo.
He said the US goal is to “create as much stability in the Middle East as
we could.”
“So we broke out of the deal, we stopped giving them money, we put pressure
on the Iranian regime, and we’re forcing them to make tough decisions about
how they’re going to behave,” Pompeo said.
“We want change in behavior from the Iranian leadership so that the Iranian
people can ultimately get what it is they deserve.”
BSS/AFP/GMR/0843 hrs