Pompeo: We have deprived the Iranian government of approximately $70 billion in wealth
The US Secretary of State emphasized on Thursday, October 23, that the maximum pressure strategy against the Islamic Republic of Iran has been successful and has deprived the country of access to approximately $70 billion in wealth.
In an interview with Larry O'Connor's radio show, Mike Pompeo compared the current and previous US administrations' strategy towards Iran and said that when Donald Trump entered the White House, Iran was on the path to acquiring a nuclear weapon, and such an event was unacceptable for the security of the Middle East, Israel, and the United States.
The US Secretary of State added that in the last three years and several months, the Donald Trump administration has tried to change the course of events and cut off the Iranian government's access to money, resources, wealth, and the capacity to build nuclear weapons.
In August of this year, the United States attempted to pass a resolution at the UN Security Council to extend the arms embargo on Iran, which was set to expire on October 17, but 13 of the 15 members of the Security Council did not side with the United States.
The US then announced that it had activated the trigger mechanism to reinstate UN sanctions on Iran. However, Britain, France and Germany say that the US cannot activate the trigger mechanism because it has withdrawn from the nuclear deal.
Mike Pompeo, in response to a question about the lack of European countries' support for the United States, said, "They say we have common goals, but they continue to be in the nuclear agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and consider it a good agreement. We don't know how you can keep these two issues in mind at the same time."
The US Secretary of State has stated: "We know that the JCPOA has enabled them to continue their campaign of terror. Because it provides them with the money and resources they need. We hope that the Europeans will join us."
He continued: "But make no mistake. The United States has led the campaign against Iran for the past three years and has been very successful. The government is not doing well right now. I think the amount of wealth that Iran has been deprived of is now about $70 billion, an amount that the thieving clerical government has lost access to."
This comes while French President Emmanuel Macron criticized the US maximum pressure strategy against Iran in his virtual speech at the United Nations General Assembly, saying that it has failed to achieve its goals.
The French President stated that the (American) maximum pressure strategy that has been underway for the past few years has not yet put an end to Iran's destabilizing activities in the region and cannot guarantee that Iran will not obtain nuclear weapons.
Emmanuel Macron stressed that new capacities should be created within the framework of the JCPOA to ensure that Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons and to address Iran's ballistic missile program as well as its efforts to destabilize the region.
Iran and six world powers, including the United States, Russia, China, France, and Britain, along with Germany, reached an agreement in Vienna in 2015 called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to resolve the ambiguities of Iran's nuclear program, under which Iran limited some of its nuclear activities and in return, nuclear sanctions against Tehran were suspended.
Donald Trump, who has repeatedly described this agreement as the "worst" agreement in American history, announced in May 2018 that the United States would withdraw from the agreement and reinstate sanctions against Iran.
Source: Radio Farda
