First speech of Mike Pompeo as secretary of state was filled with threats to Iran. He used this opportunity to give better insight into what the US wants from Iran and what would happen if their requirements are not met. All this was presented by the secretary of state with ‘do it, or we will force you to do it’ tone.
According to Pompeo, the US representatives have devised 12-point list, this is something that he called “basic requirements” that are expected from the Middle East country to be fulfilled. The most important things on that list are complete shut down of the nuclear program and the nuclear enrichment program, ballistic missile development should stop, cease the military engagement in the region and free unjustly imprisoned US citizens.
These are the terms that the US will need from Iran to be met, and after that, they would be allowed to join United Nations or league of nations as Pompe referred to it. This term was used from 1920 to 1946 and the organization that represented the base for UN. This all sounds wonderful, but the thing is that it is hard to expect a government to accept all these terms, especially after they didn’t do anything wrong according to inspectors and other countries that signed the deal.
In case that Tehran regime doesn’t respond positively to these demands, it has been said that the US will impose the toughest economic sanctions ever. “After our sanctions come into full force, it will be battling to keep its economy alive. Iran will be forced to make a choice — either fight to keep its economy off life support at home or keep squandering precious wealth on fights abroad. It will not have the resources to do both,” Pompeo stated.
As we already mentioned, there isn’t any evidence that nuclear agreement that has been signed by Iran on one side and US, UK, Germany, France, China, Russia on the other, was broken by the Middle East country. As a result, all signatories except the US decided to stay in the deal. Without the support from its allies, it will be quite hard for America to impose such heavy sanctions against Tehran.
One of the main reasons for such decision from the US government is the fact that they want to help people of Iran and prevent bad behavior of their officials. Pompeo stated: “It is America’s hope that our labors toward peace and security will bear fruit for the long-suffering people of Iran. We long to see them prosper and flourish as in decades past, and as never before.”
Pompeo also mentioned anti-government protests in Iran which “show that the Iranian people are deeply frustrated with their own government’s failures. The Iranian economy is struggling as a result of bad Iranian decisions. Workers aren’t getting paid, strikes are a daily occurrence, and the rial is plummeting. Youth unemployment is at a staggering 25 percent.”
While the facts that were delivered by the secretary of state are true, those are all old news, nothing has been dramatically changed in the last few years and even longer. As a result, it will be incredibly hard for the US and any other country to find allies in Iran that would go against the current regime. If the sanctions do come, it will certainly affect high-level officials, but the Iranian people is who will suffer the most.
When asked about the time frame and when the new measures will be imposed, Pompeo said that citizens of Iran “will get to make a choice about their leadership. If they make the decision quickly, that would be wonderful. If they choose not to do so, we will stay hard at this until we achieve the outcomes that I set forward today.” What the high official of the US just did is to call out for the people of this Middle East country to rise against the leaders and overthrow them.
It isn’t hard to agree with many things that Trump’s administration is saying about Iran, but it is hard to believe that this country is in any way a threat to American way of life, something that was often used as an excuse for military and other types of interventions. It can also be argued that Tehran could harm the US allies in the region as all of them have superior armies and are better funded.
Source: washingtonpost.com
