Pompeo threatens US will 'crush' Iran through sanctions and pressure campaign

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Washington (CNN)The US will aim to "crush" Iran with economic and military pressure unless it changes its behavior in the Middle East, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday.

Pompeo, unveiling the Trump administration's new policy on Iran just weeks after President Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, said the US will work to counter Tehran's activities and curb its influence in the Middle East and make sure that it never gains a nuclear weapon.

"Sanctions are going back in full effect, and new ones are coming," Pompeo said, speaking at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Pompeo said he will also be working with the Defense Department and allies to push back on Iran.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/21/politics/pompeo-iran-speech/index.html

Chickenhawks hoping to get their war on.

[shraby]

1. The chickenhawks are messing now with countries who actually HAVE armies and arms.

They may face a war upfront and personal to them for once.

Those countries can and probably will bring the war to our shores. It's a different world than WWII when there were no arms like there are today.

[OldHippieChick]

2. Don't think our allies are interested. They

are working hard to negate the effects of our betrayal/withdrawal. Obviously, the US cannot be trusted and no one is going to align w/ us until we stand behind our treaties. The American Indian could have warned them.

[roscoeroscoe]

3. Sad

The Secretary of State's goal, representing the United States of America, should not be to 'crush' another country.

Unless we're at war.

[quartz007]

4. I hope the neocons will not prevail...

Last thing we need is a shooting war with anyone. Reason Germany is best economy in Europe is Germany spends far less on military than we do. That is the reason Germany has less national debt/per person than we do.

[TimeSnowDemos]

5. The US and Israel

Are on their own.

Europe is not pro-war with Iran, and neither are Europeans.

In fact Europe is standing up to the US and won't be backing down any time soon.

I wonder what would happen if Americans had any idea that America is literally the 'bad guy' re Iran.

Probably nothing

[quartz007]

9. Europe needs Iran's oil, we don't

and Big corporations in EU make big profits from business with Iran. They do not want to give up those profits, even if Iran is the biggest sponsor of terrorism according to our State Dept.

[TimeSnowDemos]

12. Iran is not the biggest sponsor of terror

Our ALLY Saudi Arabia is.

And of course the US is in no position to judge anyone for their sponsorship of terror, as we are one of the major backers of terror regimes and dictators globally. And have killed MILLIONS of civilians globally since the 1950s.

And no, Europe doesn't need Iran's oil. Iran couldn't sell it to Europe until recently and yet Europe managed somehow to get by.

[quartz007]

16. Not correct about Iran oil--Europe

In reality, it matters little where the oil comes from. Oil market prices are determined by supply and demand. By Iran dumping its oil into the market keeps the prices in check. Gasoline is already sky high in Europe. Without Iran oil it will be even higher. So, indirectly Iran oil supply is critical to Europe.

India (huge demand with 1.3 Billion people) can buy oil from Iran and Europe can buy oil from Saudi or Russia. Our own oil is sold to Asian countries for economy of transportation and we buy from Mexico and others close by. Oil markets are very fluid.

As for who is the biggest sponsor of terrorism is irrelevant. What we know for sure is Iran is in Syria, Iraq & Yemen wars fighting our military.. And Iran supports Hezbollah & Hamas. Saudi Arabia rulers do not support military operations which fight our military. Their problem is religious zealotry by the way of funding lots of Sunni zealots everywhere via private donations.

[TimeSnowDemos]

17. Lol

Our military is helping dictators murder women and children, bomb refugee camps, and stave millions of civilians in Yemen. If that's who you side with, I'm not on your side. There's no version of this conversation where I don't think your siding with the worst of humanity. So let's drop it.

[quartz007]

18. My personal opinion does not matter!

Actually I am a pacifist, having grown up in the same province as Mahatma Gandhi. Here, I merely state facts as our government sees them.

[TimeSnowDemos]

19. Those aren't facts

To be clear.

You're conflating a lot of misinformation and half-truths.

The US was in Yemen for years before Iran was. The US used the demonstrably false premise of Iranian involvement to justify war crimes in Yemen. That was even said by Dems in the US Congress. Or at least the spectre was raised.

On top of that, Saudi Arabia, according to Trump, and the Obama administration, and the EU, is the largest state sponsor of terror. Trump changed his tune only after it suited his political and financial agenda.

The US, BTW., has helped the Saudis bomb two pedeatric hospitals in Yemen. Two. One was then bombed a second time when rescue workers showed up.

Iran hasn't started a war in living memory either. And the US (and Israel) both sponsor terror groups when it suits them and have for multiple generations. Iran on the other hand has had 100s of thousands of its civilians killed in a war with the US via Iraq, wherein the US helped Saddam target and deliver WMDs against civilians. The US also shot an airliner full of Iranian women and children out of the air. And of course the US created the Iranian secret police, and ran it while it engaged in its most egregious, murderous and torturous, behavior.

Saudi Arabia is obviously a dictatorshio that murders its own people by the dozens, and has some of the worst human rights violations on the planet...

So. If you're gonna talk about this stuff, learn about it. Don't parrot random garbage the US government is putting out in 2018 without at least a quick Google to see if youre being part of the problem

[quartz007]

20. History is irrelevant!

Fact is Iran IS fighting US military in countries I mentioned.

LMAAAO...Saudi murders own people? And Iran doesn't?
What do you call this?

https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/30/middleeast/iran-protests-intl/index.html

[TimeSnowDemos]

21. Ira relatove

The US murders its own people as well.

And by calling history irrelevant is a wildly offensive cop out. And not even vaguely true. It's also what Trump believes.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. That's not diplomatic . . . .

[ProudLib72]

15. GOP party line: Diplomacy is for sissies

Treat everyone as an enemy and crush them.

[matt819]

7. Ho hum. . .

No. They won't crush Iran.

They will, however, ensure that Iranians continue to hate The Great Satan. There might have been a chance that anti-Americanism could ease in the coming years as a result of the Iran agreement. Close the nuclear program (yeah, yeah, I know, that probably wouldn't happen, but we would all have the fig leaf and there would still be inspections and maybe even be successful) and ease sanctions. A rational program over time. Not now. Back to 1978 levels of hatred.

And you know what? Iran will survive. Iraq will survive. Syria, even, will survive. They may change. Hell, they may not be recognizable. But the Iranian, Iraqis, and Syrians will still be with us. They will not be crushed. The Afghans, after centuries of war and foreign invasions, is still there.

[sinkingfeeling]

8. Why? Just to see how big of dick he can be?

[NewJeffCT]

10. This time around

the Coalition of the Willing is the US and Israel?

[rsdsharp]

11. Is it just me

Or does Pompeo look like ten pounds of horseshit stuffed into a five pound suit?

[safeinOhio]

13. Do they wish to install the Shah again.

Free the oil and enslave the people?

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. Unless, that is, the companies doing business with Iran are Chinese

in which case Trump will personally intervene to make sure there are no bad consequences for them.