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WASHINGTON. – In September 2001, former United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Chester Crocker in the Reagan administration, made an infamous statement advising Congress that the only way to separate the people of Zimbabwe from the rulling Zanu-PF party was by making its “economy scream”.

This was after the Government of Zimbabwe embarked on the irreversible land reform programme, and the US and its allies imposed ruinous economic sanctions through the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act.

In similar fashion, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday said Washington will increase the financial pressure on Iran by imposing the “strongest sanctions in history” on the Islamic Republic if Tehran refuses to change the course of its foreign and domestic policy.

“We will apply unprecedented financial pressure on the Iranian regime. The leaders in Tehran will have no doubt about our seriousness,” Pompeo said yesterday in his first major foreign policy address since moving to the State Department from the CIA.

Speaking weeks after the United States’ move to withdraw from a landmark nuclear agreement Iran signed with major powers in 2015, he laid out 12 tough conditions for any “new deal” with Tehran.

The conditions included withdrawal of Iran’s military advisors from Syria, who have been helping the country’s legitimate government in its anti-terror fight against terrorist outfits, which have been mostly aided and abetted by the US and its Western and regional allies.

Pompeo said Washington would be open to a new treaty and wanted the support of US allies.

He warned that “the sting of sanctions will be painful” and Iran would struggle to “keep its economy alive” if it “does not change its course from the unacceptable and unproductive path it has chosen.”

The US secretary of state said relief from sanctions would only come when the US had seen tangible shifts in Iran’s policies.

“Iran will never again have carte blanche to dominate the Middle East,” he said, adding that the United States would hold those doing prohibited business in Iran to account.

US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that Washington was walking away from the nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was reached between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the US, Britain, France, Russia and China – plus Germany.

Trump also said he would reinstate US nuclear sanctions on Iran and impose “the highest level” of economic bans on the Islamic Republic.

Iran has said it would remain in the JCPOA for now, pending negotiations with the other signatories in the coming weeks before making a final decision on its future role in the agreement. Tehran wants the Europeans to give it clear-cut guarantees about fulfilling their obligations if it remains in the accord. – Press TV/Herald Reporter