U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has accused Iran of continuing to use its resources for the purpose of terror-related activities, in spite of the suffering of its nation’s people during the coronavirus health crisis.
Speaking at a State Department press briefing, Pompeo noted that the challenges to deprive the Ayatollah regime from resources used for their malign activities was because former President Barack Obama, “gave the Iranians a whole lot of money,” while the current administration of President Donald Trump has carried out “remarkable work to deny the regime the resources they need to continue to carry out their terror campaign.”
Secretary Pompeo went on to assert, “You describe a situation in Lebanon, I think, or perhaps in Syria where Hezbollah’s operating. I can tell you this: Hezbollah has fewer dollars today to engage in nefarious activity than they did when President Trump took office, and they will continue to have fewer dollars tomorrow until they fundamentally get the Iranian regime to change its model, the model that says we’re going to use resources – resources that could right now be going for the Iranian people to help take care of them when they’re in a health crisis themselves, right – we’re going to use those resources to take weaponry into Iraq, to underwrite Hezbollah and Lebanon and threaten Israel, all of the things that the Iranians have engaged in for so long, even in this crisis the Iranian regime hasn’t ceased doing, that’s most unfortunate.”
The top American diplomat expressed Washington’s hope “that the people of Iran one day will get a regime with a change in outlook, a change which says, ‘No, we want to respect what the Iranian people truly want.’ And when they do that, that’ll be a fantastic thing, and we will reduce the threat that Iran will ever chase a nuclear weapon in the way that they were on a path toward chasing under the previous administration.”
In related developments, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is urging the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to approve the Islamic Republic’s request for a $5 billion emergency fund, which the regime claims would assist its battle against the outbreak of the coronavirus.
In a televised cabinet meeting from Tehran, Rouhani insisted that the IMF must “fulfill its duties” to its member state, the Islamic Republic. The Iranian President further demanded the international financial body not discriminate in the granting of emergency loans. He then condemned the United States, which reserves veto power at the IMF, and referred to the sanctions Washington has imposed on his nation as “economic and medical terrorism.”