Pompeo: US Redoubles Diplomatic and Commercial Efforts to Put Pressure on Iran

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the US is "redoubling not only our diplomatic but our commercial efforts to put real pressure on Iran".

He also claimed that the US decision to withdraw troops from Syria did not jeopardise efforts to counter threats in the Middle East, which he alleged stem from Daesh* and Iran.

Jordan became the first destination of Pompeo’s 8-day Mideast trip, which is intended to promote the US position on Iran among the states he is to visit. Besides Jordan, Pompeo will have a stop in Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait, according to the US State Department’s website.

Mike Pompeo announced on Twitter earlier that he would send a "clear message" to the US’ "friends and partners", and that Washington is "committed to counter Iran’s destabilizing activities".

Pompeo: US Pullout From Syria Doesn’t Change ‘Counter-Iran Strategy’

8 January 2019, 01:07 GMT

Since the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, Washington has been re-imposing sanctions against Iran that had previously been lifted under the agreement. Two packages of US restrictions came into force in August and November 2018, targeting Iranian core sectors of its economy.

The US decision to withdraw from the JCPOA was not supported by other signatories to the deal — China, France, Germany, Iran, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the European Union — which insisted that Iran was respecting its part of the deal.

*Daesh, also known as ISIS/IS/Islamic State, is a terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries.