US State Secretary Mike Pompeo released a video on Friday evening in which he said the US wants “Iran to simply behave like a normal nation.”
.@SecPompeo: The goal of our maximum pressure campaign is to deny the regime resources to conduct its destructive foreign policy. We want #Iran to act like a normal country. pic.twitter.com/ULzf6NYy1k
— Department of State (@StateDept) January 10, 2020
Claiming that the Iranian regime “used to fuel death and destruction across the Middle East” Pompeo said that the US policy had “deprived the [Iranian] regime of billions in revenue.”
Iranian oil revenues are down by 80% and it can’t access roughly 90% of its foreign currency reserves, he said.
US President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order on Friday, authorizing new sanctions against the Iranian metal industry, as well as senior regime officials.
"This order will have a major impact on the Iranian economy," President Trump said in a statement released on Friday. "Iran continues to be the world's leading sponsor of terrorism.”