Iran: Pompeo, US are ‘prisoners of their past’

Iranian officials on Wednesday pushed back on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s pledge to implement harsh sanctions on Tehran, calling the Trump administration “prisoners of their past.” 

Reuters reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Pompeo and other officials are “prisoners of their wrong illusions, prisoners of their past and have been taken hostage by corrupt pressure groups.”

A senior Iranian military official reportedly argued the U.S. “does not have the courage for military confrontation … with Iran.”

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Instead, the official said, the U.S. is attempting to put economic and mental pressures on Tehran. 

Pompeo on Monday outlined the Trump administration’s approach to Iran following the president’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. 

Pompeo vowed to levy the “strongest sanctions in history” on Tehran unless it abandons its nuclear program and halts what the U.S. has criticized as destabilizing activity in the Middle East.

“The sting of sanctions will be painful if the regime does not change course from the unacceptable and unproductive path it has chosen to one that rejoins the league of nations,” Pompeo said.

President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal earlier this month, despite pleas from European allies to remain in the pact.

European leaders have vowed to uphold the agreement, which offers Iran sanctions relief in exchange for Tehran abandoning its nuclear program.