Pompeo assails Iran's leaders, compares them to 'mafia'

[webfact]

Pompeo assails Iran's leaders, compares them to 'mafia'

By Warren Strobel and Dana Feldman

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo holds a press briefing at U.N. headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., July 20, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

 

(Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo launched a rhetorical assault on Iran's leaders on Sunday, comparing them to a "mafia" and promising unspecified backing for Iranians unhappy with their government.

 

Pompeo, in a California speech to a largely Iranian-American audience, dismissed Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, who negotiated a nuclear deal with the United States and five other countries, as "merely polished front men for the ayatollahs' international con artistry."

 

U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew in May from the 2015 nuclear accord designed to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

 

Iran "is run by something that resembles the mafia more than a government," Pompeo said, citing what he called Iranian leaders' vast wealth and corruption.

 

Pompeo's speech was the latest step in a communications offensive launched by the Trump administration that is meant to foment unrest in Iran and help pressure its government to end its nuclear programme and support of militant groups, U.S. officials familiar with the matter said.

 

The offensive is meant to work in concert with severe economic sanctions that Washington plans to reimpose in the coming months, including on Tehran's oil exports, its principal revenue generator.

 

The United States will work with countries that import Iranian oil "to get imports as close to zero as possible" by Nov. 4, Pompeo said.

 

Rouhani cautioned Trump on Sunday about pursuing hostile policies against Tehran, saying: "War with Iran is the mother of all wars." But he did not rule out peace between the two countries.

 

"You are not in a position to incite the Iranian nation against Iran's security and interests," Rouhani said, in an apparent reference to reports of efforts by Washington to destabilise Iran's Islamic government.

 

Publicly, the Trump administration says its policy with Iran is not "regime change," but to change Tehran's behaviour so it stops nuclear and missile work, support for proxies in the Middle East and backing of militant groups.

 

"While it is ultimately up to the Iranian people to determine the direction of their country, the United States ... will support the long-ignored voice of the Iranian people," Pompeo said.

 

(Reporting by Warren Strobel in Washington and Dana Feldman in Simi Valley, Calif.; Editing by Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-07-23

[puck2]

Iran "is run by something that resembles the mafia more than a government," Pompeo said, citing what he called Iranian leaders' vast wealth and corruption.

 

Late German President Gustav Heinmann once said approximately:

 

Who points with his forefinger at an alleged instigator should take into consideration that in the hand with the outstretched finger three other fingers point at himself, at the same moment.

 

That matches Trump an cohorts.

[from the home of CC]

Iran doesn't have the cojones to shut down the straight - now that would be the mother.........

[mtls2005]

Shades of 2003, they seem to be ginning up for a war with Iraq. What a giant wag-the-dog exercise.

 

Gone are the days we could invade Granada I guess to shift focus.

 

 

[rudi49jr]

Maybe better look at Pompeo's boss (aptly named Don) for a mafia connection ....

[Lupatria]

Now I wait for the tRump, as the inventor of modern US diplomacy, to send them a box of Sinatra CD's and an autographed hard copy of "The life and times of Frank Costello."

[Srikcir]

Will Trump be sending Rouhani a video extolling his leadership skills and his love for his people as Trump did with North Korea leader Kim Jung-on?

Or does Iran need to get nuclear weapons first before achieving respect from Trump as Kim did?

[Jonmarleesco]

'U.S. Secretary of State Mike 'Pompeo launched a rhetorical assault on Iran's leaders on Sunday, comparing them to a "mafia" and promising unspecified backing for Iranians unhappy with their government.'

 

Ah, here we go; the US preparing to stick its oar into the affairs of yet another country. One has to wonder whether Pompeo does realise that Iran is a democracy? 

 

'Iran "is run by something that resembles the mafia more than a government," Pompeo said ...'

 

Could have been referring to the current US administration.
 

[sammieuk1]

When big Don wakes up they will all be friends again and tremendous fabulous leaders except Pompeo who will have a fatwa on his head.

[Jonmarleesco]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

While it is ultimately up to the Iranian people to determine the direction of their country ... Pompeo said.

That was magnanimous of him. Never yet stopped the US from sticking its oar in, though. 
 

[Jonmarleesco]

4 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

When big Don wakes up they will all be friends again and tremendous fabulous leaders except Pompeo who will have a fatwa on his head.

I thought it was a wig. 

[Tug]

Don’t envy Pompeo working for trump and kinda sounds like the kettle calling the pot black 

[billd766]

4 minutes ago, Tug said:

Don’t envy Pompeo working for trump and kinda sounds like the kettle calling the pot black 

 

Nobody forced him to sign on.

[SOTIRIOS]

...let's compare track records of both countries....

 

...guess this bullying madness we call 'the free world'...and...'democracy'....is here for another term...

 

...'hell-bent'.....on more military interventions...to the profit of the arms makers...and sellers...

 

...sad world.....mad world......

 

...while the 'sheeple' sleep...or cheer their favorite teams...

 

...and blindly hate...hate...hate...as they are prompted to mindlessly do....

 

 

[TumblinDice]

Resembles which mafia, the one that operates in the US or does he mean the Russian mafia?