(JTA) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laid out 12 requirements for signing a new nuclear deal with Iran.
Among the basic requirements Pompeo outlined on Monday morning during a speech at the Heritage Foundation in Washington is for Iran to withdraw all of its forces from Syria, end its support for Hezbollah in Lebanon, and to stop threatening to destroy Israel.
President Donald Trump announced earlier this month that the United States would pull out of the Iran nuclear deal signed in 2015 between Iran and six world powers, including the United States. The deal, which Trump called the “worst deal ever,” trades sanctions relief for a rollback in Iran’s nuclear program.
Pompeo on Monday threatened the “strongest sanctions in history” if Iran does not meet the United States’ requirements. The sanctions would be so strong, he added, that Iran “will be battling to keep its economy alive.”
Under the requirements, “Iran has no possible path to a nuclear weapon, ever,” Pompeo said.
Some of the other requirements include to stop all uranium enrichment, which had been allowed within limits under the 2015 deal; and to allow nuclear inspectors “unqualified access” to nuclear sites throughout out the country. Iran must also release all U.S. citizens detained in the country.
“Relief from sanctions will come only when we see tangible, demonstrated, and sustained shifts in Tehran’s policies,” Pompeo said.
The remaining parties to the nuclear deal have said they will continue to observe its provisions in partnership with Iran. But Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on Sunday that European efforts to save the nuclear deal after the exit of the U.S. were not sufficient, citing the decisions by several European Union countries to stop doing business with Iran over fears of U.S. sanctions.
