|
|
|
|
Steven Emerson,
Executive Director
|
May 21, 2018
|
|
|
Pompeo
Vows to 'Crush' Iran's Terror & Nuke Programs
by John Rossomando • May 21, 2018
at 5:20 pm
|
|
|
|
Share:  
|
  Be the
first of your friends to like this.
 New sanctions are
around the corner that could help "crush" Iran's ability to fund
terrorism and its nuclear program, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Monday in a speech at The Heritage
Foundation. Pompeo promised the "strongest sanctions in history."
He listed 12 demands
that Iran would need to fulfill to have the sanctions lifted. These demands
include an end to Iran's support for terror; carte blanche inspection of
Iranian nuclear sites by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); and
ending ballistic missile proliferation.
"We will track down Iranian operatives and their Hizballah proxies
operating around the world and we will crush them," Pompeo said. "Iran will never again have carte blanche to
dominate the Middle East."
On May 8, President Trump announced the end of U.S. participation in the
Iran deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action (JCPOA). European governments, however, say they plan to remain in the agreement.
Pompeo slammed the Obama administration, which negotiated and pushed for
the deal, for failing to listen to critics who argued that releasing approximately $100 billion in frozen assets to Iran
would increase its ability to support terrorism.
"Remember, Iran advanced its march across the Middle East during
the JCPOA," Pompeo said. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds
Force chief "Qasem Soleimani has been playing with house money that
has become blood money. Wealth created by the West has fueled his
campaigns."
Iran used the released money from the JCPOA to fund the IRGC, the
Taliban, Hizballah, Hamas and the Houthis in Yemen, Pompeo said. Iranian
backed militias under Soleimani's leadership control a wide swath of
territory between the Iran-Iraq borders all the way to the Mediterranean.
Israel recently launched retaliatory strikes on Iranian targets in Syria
after Iranian rockets landed in the Golan Heights.
Al-Qaida leaders also continue to be harbored in Iran.
Not surprisingly, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani rejected Pompeo's demands, saying Iran will
"continue our path with the support of our nation."
Last week, the Trump administration sanctioned the IRGC Quds Force and
imposed sanctions on the head of Iran's central bank, which Pompeo said funded Hizballah and other terrorist
organizations.
"The Iranian economy is already in free fall. That has to put a
crimp in the regime's capacity to fund surrogates. If the administration
follows through there certainly won't be more money to spread around,"
James Carafano, vice president and director of the Center for Foreign
Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation, told the Investigative Project
on Terrorism (IPT).
U.K.-based exiled Iranian dissident and author Babak Taghvaee criticized Pompeo's speech on Twitter for not including
human rights as a condition for lifting sanctions.
"Iranians could have helped #US to not only achieve
these twelve objectives rather more," Taghvaee told the IPT.
Other Iranians responded
by creating #ThankYouPompeo and #IranRegimeChange hashtags on Twitter.
|
The IPT accepts no funding from
outside the United States, or from any governmental agency or political or
religious institutions. Your support of The Investigative Project on
Terrorism is critical in winning a battle we cannot afford to lose. All
donations are tax-deductible. Click here to donate online. The
Investigative Project on Terrorism Foundation is a recognized 501(c)3
organization.
202-363-8602
- main
202-966-5191
- fax
|
|
Print
Send
RSS
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment