Iran’s Military Commander: Pompeo Needs a ‘Punch to the Mouth’ Over Sanctions
U.S. demands Iran pull out of Syria, stop uranium enrichment, release all detained American citizens.
Ismail Kowsari, a senior officer in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, lashed out at Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s vow to impose strong sanctions on the regime. From NBC News:
“The people of Iran should stand united in the face of this and they will deliver a strong punch to the mouth of the American secretary of state and anyone who backs them,” said Kowsari, according to the Iranian Labour News Agency.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also mocked Pompeo, asking, “Who are you” to make decisions for Iran while a member of parliament insisted the regime shouldn’t play into “U.S. radicalism.”
History
The United States withdrew from the Iran Nuclear Deal on May 8 and President Donald Trump said “we have definitive proof that this Iranian promise was a lie” as he brought up Israel’s findings of Iran working on its nuclear program. Trump’s admin concluded that we cannot prevent Iran from having a nuclear bomb under this “defective” agreement.”
Trump’s biggest problem with the Iranian deal? The sunset clause “that allows key limitations on Iran’s use and development of new technologies for uranium enrichment to be phased out beginning in 2025.”
He reminded everyone that Iran is a leader of state-sponsored terrorism, especially with Hezbollah. He also believes that if the deal stays in place there would be a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.
Pompeo’s Speech
On Monday, at the Heritage Foundation, Pompeo stated that Trump’s administration has started developing “the strongest sanctions in history” if Iran does not relinquish its desire to make and own nuclear weapons.
NEW: Pompeo, in speech at @Heritage, lays out 12 far-reaching demands for any new nuclear deal with Iran pic.twitter.com/uB20cDYaMW
— William Gallo (@GalloVOA) May 21, 2018
If Iran acts on these terms, then America would lift sanctions against the regime. If not…well, the regime will feel the pain. From AFP:
“We will apply unprecedented financial pressure on the Iranian regime. The leaders in Tehran will have no doubt about our seriousness,” Pompeo said in his first major foreign policy address since moving to the State Department from the CIA.
“The sting of sanctions will only grow more painful if the regime does not change course from the unacceptable and unproductive path it has chosen for itself and the people of Iran,” he added in the speech at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank.
“Iran will never again have carte blanche to dominate the Middle East,” he said in outlining the new US strategy on handling the Islamic regime, including 12 tough conditions from Washington for any “new deal” with Tehran.
He explained more on Twitter:
#Iran could have used the money from #JCPOA to boost the economic fortunes of a struggling people. Instead the regime spent it fueling proxy wars & lining the pockets of #IRGC, #Hizballah & #Hamas. Iran advanced its march across the Middle East during JCPOA.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) May 21, 2018
As I said at @Heritage: #Iran must be denied a nuclear weapon & ballistic missiles. Its aggression must be stopped. #IRGC‘s access to resources must be disrupted. U.S. will work with our allies to find a lasting solution to Iran’s malign activities.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) May 21, 2018
#JCPOA has not ended Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Nor did it deter its quest for regional hegemony. #Iran’s leaders saw the deal as a starting gun to storm across the region.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) May 21, 2018
Mic drop:
It’s not a pipe dream to ask the #Iranian leadership to behave like a normal, responsible country. Our asks are simple.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) May 21, 2018
Iran’s Reactions to Speech
Remember, this regime constantly violates the natural rights of its citizens, wishes death to America, and wants to wipe Israel off the planet.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani mocked Pompeo:
Rouhani mocks Pompeo’s tough-talk on Iran#IranDeal pic.twitter.com/EWJ54rv9TM
— Press TV (@PressTV) May 22, 2018
He said: “That a man who has spent years working in a spying center, now — in the shoes of the foreign minister of the U.S. — wants to makes decisions for Iran and other countries is in no way acceptable,” Rouhani said, according to the Iranian Students News Agency. “Who are you to want to dictate to Iran and the world, and tell Iran what to do or not to do when it comes to nuclear technology?”
Rohani retorted that the statements “move 15 years backwards to the era of Bush junior and a repeat of the same statements as 2003.” He said that “[T]he era of such statements has evolved and the Iranian people have heard these statements hundreds of times, and no longer pays attention.”
Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, a member of parliament’s national security committee, described Pompeo’s list of demands as “U.S. dream” and that “Iranians shouldn’t play into the challenges and U.S. radicalism.”
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Comments
I see we’re getting under their skin for the first time in a while.
Joins Brennan in the butthurt brigade.
He suffers from “Bitchy Resting Face”
Clearly, Ismail Kowsari needs to apologize to Mr Pompeo
As I have said when anyone mentions Iran.
Fuck Iran.
I still think we should give them nukes. We owe them for many many murdered Americans and it’s time they started getting what has been coming to them for a loooong time.
The mullahs murdered Americans (and many more others); the Persian people did not, and most of them are our friends. We should not be contemplating nuking them unless the mullahs leave us no other option.
Please. This idea that citizens of a country are simply poor helpless victims is nothing short of ridiculous. This is the same argument liberals make for minority criminals. Its not their fault, they are victims. The citizens of a nation are responsible for the actions of their leaders. We did not hesitate to kill millions of German citizens or Japanese citizens during WWII. If the citizens of Iran do not like their leadership, then it is their responsibility to change that leadership.
Should American citizens be killed because of the actions of Obama, and Brennan, and Clapper, and Hillary?
It is possible for a corrupt elite to take over a country – it happened here. but when that happens, the people may turn out to be your allies, not your enemies. And it’s not a good plan to kill people who might actually want to help you.
When you have a majority who voted them into power it becomes the fault of all the citizens. While only a small percent actually vote, there were many Republicans who sat home over voting, so they are complicit in helping giving them power through inaction.
A majority didn’t vote in Hitler to power in Germany, yet the whole of Germany was bombed. And it wasn’t till Hitler was dead and Berlin overrun that they surrendered. Was it wrong to bomb Germany and invade the Country with armed forces even though there were those who were against the Nazis within the country?
How do you separate it? Sure, there are centers of power which should feel the brunt, but Islamic terrorists and want to bes always hide behind women and children. Just look at what they are doing in Gaza. Are those who bringing their women and children there to be spared because they want to have them as shields?
Hitler and Tojo left us with no other option but to bomb the crap out of their people. If they had given us another option, it would have been wrong not to take it.
Plus most of their people did support them. Most Persians do not support the mullahs’ international terrorism campaign.
If Barack Obama had attacked another nation and that nation and all of its allies retaliated against the US, exactly WHO do you think would have died? That’s right, US citizens. It is always the citizens who pay the price for their leader’s actions. In the case of Obama, his actions cost the lives of numerous US citizens all around the world. And, the loss of those lives did NOTHING to benefit the USA and its citizens.
That is why it is critical to choose national leaders wisely. They represent the people and the people pay for their actions.
As for Iran, we have tried supporting the citizenry to replace their current leadership. It has not worked. So, now we will force the people of Iran to change their leadership or starve. It is always the people who pay for the follies of their leaders.
“Hitler and Tojo left us with no other option but to bomb the crap out of their people. If they had given us another option, it would have been wrong not to take it.
Plus most of their people did support them. Most Persians do not support the mullahs’ international terrorism campaign.”
Actually, we did not have to declare war on either Germany or Japan, we could simply have allowed them to continue their expansion. We did not attack Germany when it invaded Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland [which it did in conjunction with its ally Russia] or France . And, Germany did not attack the United States before we declared war on it. We did not go to war with Japan while it invaded Manchuria, China and Indochina. But, we did go to war when Japan directly attacked US military assets in a US controlled territory. Iran committed an act of war against the US in 1979, when they violated diplomatic protocols and took our diplomatic personnel hostage for 444 days. And, we chose not to attack them militarily. They were responsible for several acts against US military personnel, through their terrorist surrogates. And we did not attack them militarily. The Iranian people have had 40 years to divest themselves of an administration with which they “disagree” and have not done so. I think that it is safe to assume that the bulk of the Iranian people are not willing to change leadership. So, they will suffer along with the leadership.
Tyrants exist on a continuous scale of the amount of dissent they will tolerate. Even King George III was a relatively mild version compared to some of these animals. Keep that in mind.
We don’t have to turn the whole country into glass but there are select areas where I think decorative ash trays would suffice.
So you are endorsing the view that the US wasn’t justified in using nukes on Japan.
Nope. We had no other option. If the mullahs eventually force us to nuke them, we shouldn’t feel guilty about doing so. But we should not be contemplating doing so when we don’t have to.
in another week or two Pomeo will explain to NATO –
‘you are either with US or against US – No In Between’0
U.S. will work with our allies to find a lasting solution to Iran’s malign activities.
I wouldn’t put a lot of faith in this part.
boy, the Iranians sure talk a tough game…
We aren’t making decisions for Iran. We are making decisions for ourselves that happen to suck for iran’s Ambitions.
We have owed Iran a big time payback since 1979.
I think the taunts are meant to rally his own people, not intimidate America. Which means he views the sanctions as a lethal threat.
Dial them up to 11.
So Rouhani pretty much admitted that the Obama deal was a farce and Iran was doing as it pleased with development of Nuclear weapons. Shame on America for standing up to this terrorist country in an effort to keep Nukes out of their hands.
Iran is certainly a country that would use them and blame Israel for getting in the way of their Nukes.