Washington tightens noose around Mullahs’ neck

Eslam Mohamed

US actions continue to escalate against the mullahs’ terrorist regime to compel it to abide by the sanctions that were imposed last year.

US President Donald Trump on May 8, 2018, unilaterally withdrew from the deal and promised to re-impose sanctions.

Those sanctions began to kick in from August 2018 and on April 22, 2019 the United States announced it was terminating a sanctions waiver that had allowed eight countries to continue buying Iranian oil.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday the United States has seen activity from Iran that indicated a possible “escalation,” one day after the United States said it would send a carrier strike group to the Middle East to counter a “credible threat by Iranian regime forces.”

“We call on the Iranian regime to cease all provocation. We will hold the Iranian regime accountable for any attack on US forces or our interests,” he said.

White House National Security Adviser John Bolton said the US was deploying a carrier strike group and bomber task force to the Middle East “to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime.”

The deployment was intended “to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force,” said John R. Bolton, the national security adviser, in a statement released Sunday night.

“The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps or regular Iranian forces,” Mr. Bolton said in the statement.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran would act with “prudence” in response to what he saw as dangerous policies by the United States. In one example, he said Iran would still allow US warships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important oil artery, however, in case Iran failed to deliver its oil exports, it will close down the strait.

For his part, researcher in Iranian affairs, Mohammad Abadi, said that the United States continues to pressure Iran to force its regime to change its behavior. He also told The Reference in an interview that the US demands are clear and that there is no way to lift sanctions before adhering to the demands that mostly relate to the missile program and subversive interventions in neighboring countries affairs.