CGTN America
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative public policy think tank, in Washington, Monday, May 21, 2018. Pompeo issued a steep list of demands Monday that he said should be included in a nuclear treaty with Iran to replace the Obama-era deal, threatening “the strongest sanctions in history” if Iran doesn’t change course. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The new U.S Secretary of State has drawn up a list of 12 demands for Iran in his first major foreign policy speech since becoming America’s top diplomat.
Mike Pompeo’s speech follows the U.S. decision to withdraw from the landmark 2015 international agreement for Iran to suspend its nuclear weapons program.
CGTN’s Owen Fairclough explains, the list contains some of the most contentious issues driving the tension between Washington and Tehran.
In a speech that called Iran out for a wide range of “malign activities” apart from its nuclear program, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo outlined a new Iran strategy that would go far beyond the single focus of the landmark 2015 international agreement and would have the status of a formal treaty. The 2015 deal concluded under the Obama administration dealt only with the nuclear program and was not a treaty but rather a U.N.-endorsed executive agreement between the parties.
Unless such a treaty can be reached, Pompeo warned that Iran would face tough sanctions that would leave it “battling to keep its economy alive.”
But, if Tehran meets Washington’s demands, Pompeo offered an end to sanctions, a restoration of diplomatic relations between the two and allowing Iran to access to western technology that it’s been denied.
US diplomacy sham is merely a regression to old habits: imprisoned by delusions & failed policies—dictated by corrupt Special Interest—it repeats the same wrong choices and will thus reap the same ill rewards. Iran, meanwhile, is working with partners for post-US JCPOA solutions.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) May 21, 2018
Iran’s foreign minister denounced Pompeo’s speech as a “diplomacy sham” while President Hassan Rouhani said the U.S. was no longer in a position could not decide for Iran.
The international deal – The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – still has the backing of China. Chinese officials plan to meet with leaders from the European Union and Russia in Vienna Friday to discuss how to keep the 2015 accord alive without the U.S.
Remi Piet talks about new US demands on Iran
CGTN’s Mike Walter talks with Remi Piet, political economy and foreign affairs researcher at Florida International University, about U.S. threats to impose additional sanctions on Iran unless it meets new U.S. demands.
