During his nine-country Middle East tour, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo renewed efforts to form a tighter coalition with eight Arab states to generate greater pressure on Iran, and signed a memorandum of understanding at Doha in Qatar that expands the U.S. military base there.
Pompeo’s strategic talks with Qatari leaders focused on reunifying the Gulf states, calling it essential to the success of the new regional body the U.S. hopes to create — The Middle East Strategic Alliance. This body would include the six GCC nations as well as Jordan and Egypt. The Trump administration hopes the new organization will be a strong defense against the Iranian regime.
Pompeo highlighted the Iranian regime as a U.S. concern in the region in his speech at American University in Cairo. “The nations of the Middle East will never enjoy security, achieve economic stability, or advance the dreams of their people if Iran’s revolutionary regime persists on its current course,” he said.
Jamal Abdi, president of The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) responded to Pompeo’s speech saying, “Secretary Pompeo’s speech failed to outline a coherent strategic logic for the Trump administration’s Middle East policy. If Secretary Pompeo wants regional stability, human rights, and an end to U.S. military adventures and endless wars, he would press his boss to return to the Iran deal, pursue and facilitate good-faith diplomacy among all stakeholders, and honor our international agreements.”
Abdi discussed the importance of saving the nuclear deal, although, according to Reuters, Iran’s nuclear chief was meanwhile announcing that the regime would start work on designing nuclear reactor fuel delivering 20 percent purity. The 2015 nuclear deal capped the level to 3.67 percent purity, well below the 20 percent. “We have made such progress in nuclear science and industry that, instead of reverse-engineering and the use of designs by others, we can design new fuel ourselves,” state broadcaster IRIB quoted Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, as saying.
After U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton requested contingency plans for taking military action against the Iranian regime should the pressure of renewed economic sanctions fail to change the regime’s behavior, the NIAC also criticized him. Abdi said, “John Bolton and fellow Iran hawks believe they have two years left to collapse the Iran nuclear deal and trigger a disastrous war that the American people want no part of. We know that Bolton and other administration officials preferred an Iran war to negotiations prior to serving Trump. Now there is confirmation that they are still seeking out opportunities to fulfill their war agenda.”
Source » irannewsupdate