US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned on Tuesday that Iran will be "unshackled to create new turmoil" when a UN arms embargo on Iran and a travel ban on the leader of the regime's elite Quds Force is lifted in October 2020.
"Time is drawing short to continue this activity of restricting Iran's capacity to foment its terror regime," he said at a UN Security Council meeting about the latest in the Middle East, which also included mention of the situations in Yemen and Libya and the threat from Islamic State. "The international community will have plenty of time to see how long it has until Iran is unshackled to create new turmoil and figure out what it must do to prevent this from happening."
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Pompeo noted that the US State Department's website has a "Countdown to Terror" clock leading up to the removal of the restrictions in accordance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which the United States withdrew from, reimposing sanctions, in addition to enacting new financial penalties against Tehran.
Additionally, the US top diplomat warned against helping the vessel, which is carrying 2 million barrels of oil.
"We have made clear that anyone who touches it, anyone who supports it, anyone who allows a ship to dock is at risk of receiving sanctions from the United States," he told reporters at the United Nations, where he addressed the UN Security Council about the latest in the Middle East.
"If that ship again heads to Syria, we will take every action we can consistent with those sanctions to prevent that," said Pompeo, adding that revenues from the oil sold from the tanker would benefit Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. "We want to deny them the resources to continue their horrific terror campaign."
Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.
