US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday said that sanctions on Iran have been "effective" and “we will enforce them” everywhere to deny the country the ability to build a nuclear weapon that could threaten anyone in the world.
Pompeo spoke at a regional youth leadership program in the Thai capital of Bangkok during a wider meeting of Southeast Asian nations with world powers.
“Before the sanctions regime was put in place, there were 2.7-ish million barrels of oil a day being shipped by Iran to all around the world. The number for June and July, each of those two months, was less than a half a million barrels, could have been closer to zero than to half a million,” he said.
“The sanctions have been very effective, and we will enforce them everywhere,” he added. “We’ll enforce them against any company, any country, that continues to violate those sanctions."
According to Pompeo, “it is absolutely imperative” to deny Tehran “from having the wealth and resources to build a nuclear program that could threaten anyone in the world,” the secretary of state declared.”
Pompeo is expected to head to Sydney on Sunday for talks with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison after Washington asked the country to take part in the alliance aimed at protecting maritime traffic in the Gulf.
Meanwhile, Japan's Mainichi newspaper, citing unidentified government sources, said Friday that Tokyo will not send warships to join the US-led maritime force to guard oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, fearing a military response from Iran, but it may send patrol aircraft.
But Japan may send warships independently to protect Japanese ships in the world’s most important oil artery, the newspaper said.
