Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that Washington would impose the "strongest sanctions in history" on Iran if the regime does not comply with a list of U.S. demands intended to bolster nuclear non-proliferation verification measures.
Pompeo, speaking at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, laid out a "diplomatic road map" for further relations with Iran in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal.
The former CIA director laid out a comprehensive list of requirements that Iran must comply with to avoid the painful sanctions, including the declaration of all nuclear material to the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA), the allowance of unqualified IAEA access to all nuclear sites, the conclusion of missile development, and the release of all American hostages.
Trump withdrew from the Iran deal earlier this month, citing the lack of adequate compliance verification, as well as Iran’s increasingly aggressive regional influence campaign, as evidence of the Obama administration’s failure to secure a favorable deal.
"It is clear to me we cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb, under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement…the Iran deal is defective at its core," Trump said during his announcement from the White House.
"If the regime continues its nuclear aspirations it will have bigger problems than it has ever had before," he added.
Pompeo addressed Iran’s increased involvement in regional conflict during the address, reiterating the administration’s demand that the regime end its support for Hezbollah and Hamas and withdraw forces from Syria. He also stipulated that Iran must stop funding the Houthi rebels battling pro-government forces in Yemen.
The increased sanctions — levied on top of existing restrictions revived after the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear agreement — will have a detrimental effect on the economies of European allies. Pompeo acknowledged the expected to harm to allies and vowed to send diplomatic teams to those countries to explain the U.S. policy and work to defray the potential damages.
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