US hits Iran with new sanctions as Secretary of State Pompeo defends strategy

United States hit Iran with new sanctions on Wednesday, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo me case that undoing actions of Trump ministration would be foolish and dangerous. Treasury and State departments anunced y h targeted a leing Iranian charity and numerous of its affiliates for human rights violations. At same time, Pompeo released a statement titled “ Importance of Sanctions on Iran,” which argued that Trump ministration's moves against Iran me world safer and should t be reversed.

sanctions anunced Wednesday target Iran's Mostazafan Foundation and roughly 160 of its subsidiaries, which are alleged to provide material support to Iran's Supreme Leer Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for malign activities, including suppression of dissent.

“While (it) is ostensibly a charitable organization charged with providing benefits to poor and oppressed, its holdings are expropriated from Iranian people and are used by Supreme Leer Ali Khamenei to enrich his office, reward his political allies, and persecute regime's enemies,” Treasury said in a statement.

Also targeted was Iran's Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi, who it said played a central role in Iranian regime's human rights abuses against Iranian citizens.

Many of sanctions supplement previously anunced penalties by simply ding ar layer to m. But y come as ministration seeks to ramp up pressure on Iran before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

Biden has said he wants to return to rapprochement with Iran that started in Obama ministration but was ended by outgoing President Donald Trump.

In an apparent d to incoming Biden ministration's stated plans to rejoin or renegotiated 2015 Iran nuclear deal that Trump withdrew from, Pompeo said sanctions imposed against Iran h been extraordinarily effective in reducing threat from country. He said y h slashed Iran's revenue by hundreds of billions of dollars since pullout in 2018.

Sanctions are part of pressures creating a new Middle East, bringing toger countries that suffer consequences of Iran's violence and seek a region more peaceful and stable than before,he said in a statement.

Reducing that pressure is a dangerous choice, bound to weaken new partnerships for peace in region and strengn only Islamic Republic. 

Pompeo said that in its remaining time, Trump ministration would continue to impose sanctions on Iran as well as on foreign governments and companies that violate m.

“Throughout coming weeks and months, we will impose new sanctions on Iran, including using our nuclear, counterterrorism, and human rights authorities, each reflecting wide range of malign behavior that continues to emanate from Iranian regime,” he said.

se sanctions are a critical tool of national security to preserve safety of region and to protect American lives.

(IM CREDITS:PTI)