Pompeo: Iran Not Treated as Equal Until it Stops Sponsoring Terror

The US has designated Iran as the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism and says it cannot expect to be treated as an equal in the global community until it halts such activities.

By: AP and United with Israel Staff

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said renewed US sanctions on Iran will be rigorously enforced and remain in place until the Iranian government radically changes course.

Speaking to reporters aboard his plane on his way home from a three-nation trip to Southeast Asia, Pompeo said Monday’s re-imposition of sanctions is an important pillar in US policy toward Iran. He said the Trump administration is open to looking beyond sanctions, but that would “require enormous change” from Tehran.

“We’re hopeful that we can find a way to move forward, but it’s going to require enormous change on the part of the Iranian regime,” he said Sunday. “They’ve got to behave like a normal country. That’s the ask. It’s pretty simple.”

Pompeo called the Iranian leadership “bad actors” and said President Donald Trump is intent on getting them to “behave like a normal country.”

A first set of US sanctions that had been eased by the Obama administration under the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal will take effect again on Monday, following Trump’s May decision to withdraw from the accord. Those sanctions target Iran’s automotive sector as well as gold and other metals.

A second batch of US sanctions targeting Iran’s oil sector and central bank will be re-imposed in early November.

Pompeo noted that the US has long designated Iran as the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism and said it cannot expect to be treated as an equal in the international community until it halts such activities.

The Islamic Republic provides financial support to terrorist groups throughout the world, including Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad.

Hamas has openly and repeatedly admitted that Iran is its primary benefactor.

“Perhaps that will be the path the Iranians choose to go down,” Pompeo said. “But there’s no evidence today of a change in their behavior.”

In the meantime, he said, “we’re going to enforce the sanctions.”