US is ready to enforce sweeping UN sanctions on Iran, Pompeo says

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that Washington would impose sweeping sanctions on Iran, although the United Nations Security Council voted not to extend an arms embargo on the escalating regime.

Pompeo, who on Thursday addressed the 15 members of the UN Security Council, reiterated that the Trump administration will continue its maximum pressure campaign to restore Tehran’s missile and nuclear weapons programs.

“I have not had a single world leader when one of my opponents tells me that they think it makes perfect sense for the Iranians to buy and sell high-weapon systems, which is what will happen on October 18 this year, absent from the actions we took at the United Nations yesterday, “Pompeo told CNBC.

“We will not let them have nuclear weapons, we will not let them have hundreds of billions of dollars in wealth from the sale of weapons systems. Every leader around the world knows that it is a bad idea,” he said, calling Iran “the largest state sponsor of ‘ the world for terror. “

The Trump administration has previously urged members of the Security Council to extend a UN implicit arms embargo on Iran. The embargo is currently set to end in October under the 2015 nuclear deal brokered by a broker by the Obama administration.

Last week, the Security Council voted not to extend the international arms embargo on Iran, a decision by which Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday formally informed the group of the US intention to “snap back” or restore all UN sanctions on Iran.

Thirty days after Pompeo’s notification, a range of UN sanctions will be restored, including the requirement that Iran suspend all enrichment-related activities. The “snap back” will also extend the 13-year arms embargo on Iran.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have escalated following Trump’s withdrawal from Iran’s man-made nuclear deal in 2018, calling it “the worst deal ever.”

The 2015 agreement removes sanctions on Iran that killed its economy and cut its oil production roughly in half. In exchange for relief from sanctions, Iran accepted borders on its nuclear program until the conditions expire in 2025.

Trump has previously said the US wants to reach a broader agreement with Iran that sets stricter boundaries for its nuclear and ballistic missile work and suppresses the regime’s role in regional proxy wars. Tehran has refused to negotiate while US sanctions remain in place.

Following Washington’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal, other signatories to the pact – France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia and China – sought to keep the agreement alive.

Earlier this year, a US strike that killed Iran’s top military general triggered the regime to further scale compliance with the international nuclear pact. In January, Iran said it would no longer limit its uranium enrichment as a nuclear test.

Pompeo spoke to United Nations reporters on Thursday, saying Washington was disappointed in the decision not to extend the arms embargo on Iran.

“It’s a huge mistake not to extend this arms embargo. It’s fun!” Pompeo told reporters at the United Nations, adding that the Trump administration was ready to take a ‘snap back’ of all sanctions with Iran.

Pompeo’s remarks to UN Security Council members come hours after Iran’s defense minister unveiled new missiles aimed at ‘strengthening Iran’s forces.

Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami said in a television address that the new ballistic missile has a range of about 870 miles and is named after the Iranian generation Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a US strike in Iraq in January.

Hatami also said the regime had a new cruise missile with a range of more than 620 miles and was named after Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was also killed in the strike.

Relations between the US and Iran took a turn for the worse last summer following a string of attacks in the Persian Gulf.

In June, U.S. officials said an Iranian surface-to-air missile fired at a U.S. military surveillance drone across the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said the plane went over its territory. That strike came a week after the US blamed Iran for attacks on two oil tankers in the Persian Gulf region and after four tankers were attacked in May.

The US then imposed more retaliatory sanctions on Iranian military leaders for firing the US drone. The measures were also intended to block financial resources for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Tensions rose again in September when the US blamed Iran for strikes in Saudi Arabia on the world’s largest crude processing plant and oil field.

The pre-dawn attack forced the kingdom to cut its production companies in half and the biggest spike in raw prices in decades triggered and renewed concerns about a new conflict in the Middle East. Iran insists it was not behind the attacks.

In January, the US claimed responsibility for the death of Iran’s top general, Qasem Soleimani. On the heels of the attack, Trump said that America is not seeking “regime change” in Iran, but that the US is “ready and willing to take whatever is necessary” if Iran threatens American life, Trump added at the time.

Soleimani, who leads a unit for special forces of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, has been a key figure in Iranian politics and the Middle East. He and an aide were killed in a U.S. Air Force flight at Baghdad International Airport.

Iran responded by firing rockets at U.S. targets in Iraq, which then led the Trump administration to announce new sanctions on Iran’s metal exports and eight senior Iranian officials.