Sect. of State Pompeo
Photo: AFP
US implores world to levy fresh sanctions on Iran
During first visit of US Secretary of State Pompeo to Middle East, taking him to Saudi Arabia, Israel and Jordan, his senior policy adviser says anyone associated with Iran's missile program should be sanctioned; 'Iran's missiles prolong war and suffering, threaten our security and especially threaten Saudi Arabia, Israel,' he adds; Pompeo, considered an Israeli ally, will meet PM Netanyahu Sunday.
The United States called Saturday on Washington's allies in Europe and the rest of the world to levy sanctions on Iran in order to curb its nuclear program. A senior Washington official added Iran's missile program threatened the world's peace and security.
The senior adviser then added a salvo of ballistic missiles fired into Saudi Arabia by Yemen's Iran-allied Houthi movement that killed a man earlier on Saturday had been provided by Tehran.
The official—Brian Hook, a senior policy adviser travelling with newly sworn-in US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo—spoke with reporters in the Saudi capital of Riyadh during Pompeo's Middle East tour, undertaken merely two days after assuming the position of the US's top diplomat.
"We are urging nations around the world to sanction any individuals and entities associated with Iran's missile program," Hook said, stressing the US was concerned not merely with the Islamic republic's nuclear program but also its ballistic missile program, hence the fact that it served "a big part of discussions with Europeans."
Newly sworn-in Sect. of State Pompeo's senior policy adviser appealed to other nations to hit Iran with sanctions (Photo: AFP)
"Iran's missiles prolong war and suffering in the Middle East, they threaten our security and economic interests and they especially threaten Saudi Arabia and Israel," he said.
US President Donald Trump set a May 12 deadline for his European allies to fix the landmark 2015 deal, and threatened that if it was not amended the US may withdraw.
Hook, one of the Americans in talks with Europe over prospective changes to the deal, said the missile program Iran continued to develop will play a key role in talks between Pompeo and Saudi and Israeli leaders.
The new secretary of state reached Saudi Arabia Saturday evening, the first stop of a hastily-assembled Mid-East tour that will take him to Israel and Jordan as well. A senior State Department official said Pompeo's visit was intended to preserve the US's close ties with its regional allies.
Pompeo (R) met with Saudi FM al-Jubeir on his first trip in the position (Photo: Reuters)
Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir greeted his American counterpart in Riyadh. During his Saudi visit, Pompeo is expected to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, one of the key figures in the region.
Pompeo will then arrive to Israel Sunday, where he will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The whistle-stop tour will conclude in Amman, Jordan.
Before taking off for Riyadh, Secretary of State Pompeo participated in a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels on Friday, where he said Trump had not taken a decision on whether to abandon the Iran deal but was not likely to stick to it without substantial changes.
Pompeo is considered a significant supporter of Israel, and to be adamantly opposed to the nuclear deal. In his previous role as director of the CIA, Pompeo made three clandestine visits to Israel. He is very close with Mossad Director Yossi Cohen.
US-Israel relations were not a significant component of Pompeo's predecessor Tillerson's work (Photo: EPA)
Pompeo's predecessor in the position, Rex Tillerson, who President Trump ousted, only visited Israel once—accompanying the president on his own visit to the country in May, 2017. His contribution to US-Israel relations could be said to have been minor.
Pompeo's arrival to Israel, meanwhile, was intended to communicate the message of the importance he ascribes to relations with Israel on the one hand, and to examine whether the US can help dissipate regional tensions on the backdrop of Iran's entrenchment in Syria on the other—entrenchment Israel considers to be crossing a red line.
