US will enforce sanctions against Iran, Pompeo says

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that the US will fully enforce sanctions against Iran, scheduled to be put back in place Monday, The Washington Post reported.

“The United States is going to enforce these sanctions,” Pompeo told reporters returning with him from a summit in Southeast Asia. Asked about Tehran’s prospects for evading the prohibitions on financial transactions and eventually oil purchases from Iran, he said Iran will not succeed.

“It’s an important part of our efforts to push back against Iranian malign activity,” he said of the sanctions.

As part of a historic 2015 agreement between Iran and six world powers, including the United States, US and international sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear activity were suspended once Tehran accepted technical limits on its program. By almost all accounts, the wide spectrum of US and multilateral sanctions were responsible for getting Iran to the negotiating table.