On Iran’s Weakened Economy WHAT WAS SAID: “Economically, we see how the regime’s decision to prioritize an ideological agenda over the welfare of the Iranian people has put Iran into a long-term economic tailspin. During the time of the nuclear deal, Iran’s increased oil revenues could have gone to improving the lives of the Iranian people. Instead they went to terrorists, dictators, and proxy militias. Today, thanks to regime subsidies, the average Hezbollah combatant makes two to three times what an Iranian firefighter makes on the streets of Iran. Regime mismanagement has led to the rial plummeting in value. A third of Iranian youth are unemployed, and a third of Iranians now live below the poverty line.” THE FACTS Fact and conjecture. Iran used at least some earnings from oil, including money impounded by sanctions but released when the nuclear deal took effect in 2016, to fill deficiencies in its budget. Iran also spent enormous sums to attract investment, buy and refurbish airplanes and ships, and provide financing to stimulate the economy. The decline in the rial, the national currency, has been attributed by economists not only to mismanagement but to the negative impact of President Trump’s decision to renounce the nuclear agreement in May and restore the sanctions. Mr. Pompeo’s basis for the wage comparison of Hezbollah fighters and Iranian firefighters is unclear. While youth unemployment in Iran is widely believed to be at least 30 percent, that figure is comparable to or below that of other countries in the Middle East as well as Spain and Italy. On Iran’s poverty rate, Mr. Pompeo’s assertion is disputed. A 2016 World Bank working paper suggested it was less than 10 percent, according to Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, a Brookings Institution scholar who participated in the research. WHAT WAS SAID: “The bitter irony of the economic situation in Iran is that the regime uses this same time to line its own pockets while its people cry out for jobs and reform and for opportunity. The Iranian economy is going great – but only if you’re a politically-connected member of the elite. Two years ago, Iranians rightfully erupted in anger when leaked paystubs showed massive amounts of money inexplicably flowing into the bank accounts of senior government officials.” THE FACTS Fact and omission. Mr. Pompeo was correct that corruption in Iran’s government is pervasive, a fact that President Hassan Rouhani of Iran has acknowledged. Mr. Pompeo was also correct in describing the popular anger that erupted over the leaked paystubs — but did not mention that some officials had leaked the information and that Mr. Rouhani ordered an investigation into the pay, which entangled associates that included his own brother.<doc-sep>WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 23: U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) (R), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, hugs Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) (2nd R) after a committee meeting April 23, 2018 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The committee has approved to the nomination of CIA Director Mike Pompeo to be the next Secretary of State. Sen. Coons broke a deadlock and voted "present" to avoid keeping the meeting open until Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) can join the meeting from delivering a eulogy out of town. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 12: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for the director of the CIA, Rep.Mike Pompeo(R-KS) attends his confirmation hearing before the Senate (Select) Intelligence Committee on January 12, 2017 in Washington, DC. Mr. Pompeo is a former Army officer who graduated first in his class from West Point. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) N. Korea to Pompeo: You may not have slept well U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, speaks during a meeting with North Korean Director of the United Front Department Kim Yong Chol at the Park Hwa Guest House in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, July 6, 2018. Pompeo is on a trip traveling to North Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Abu Dhabi, and Brussels. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testifies at the Senate Foreign Relations Hearing on Wednesday, June 25. Secretary Pompeo delivers remarks on "Supporting Iranian Voices", at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Center for Public Affairs. (CNN) — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a scathing speech on Iran’s leadership Sunday, accusing Tehran’s ruling ayatollahs of spreading violence across the Middle East and lining their own pockets with ill-gotten gains at the expense of ordinary Iranians. “The ideologues who forcibly came to power in 1979 and remain in power today are driven by a desire to conform all of Iranian society to the tenants of the Islamic Revolution. The regime is also committed to spreading the Revolution to other countries, by force if necessary,” said Pompeo during a highly anticipated address at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. Southern California is home to a significant portion of the Iranian diaspora living in the United States. Many of them fled Iran after the revolution that brought Iran’s ayatollahs to power. “To the regime, prosperity, security, and freedom for the Iranian people are acceptable casualties in the march to fulfill the Revolution,” said Pompeo. The secretary of state and former CIA director accused several members of Iran’s leadership, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, of participating in widespread corruption. Khamenei, Pompeo alleged, maintains a personal off-the-books hedge fund worth $95 billion, that is untaxed and used as a “slush fund” by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Crops (IRGC). The IRGC is a branch of the country’s armed with influence over practically every aspect of Iranian life. “The level of corruption and wealth among regime leaders shows that Iran is run by something that resembles the mafia more than a government,” Pompeo said. “These hypocritical holy men have devised all kinds of crooked schemes to become some of the wealthiest men on Earth while their people suffer.” Pompeo’s speech came just hours after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told diplomats in Tehran that the United States “must understand that war with Iran is the mother of all wars and peace with Iran is the mother of all peace,” according to Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA. “Do not play with the lion’s tail, because you will regret it eternally,” Rouhani said. Shortly after Pompeo’s speech, Trump tweeted that Iran will “suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before” if it were to threaten the United States again. Though the tweet was addressed to Rouhani, it’s unclear if he was responding to the Iranian President’s comments earlier Sunday. Pompeo’s speech was briefly interrupted by protesters shouting “think about the children,” likely a reference to US President Donald Trump’s immigration policies that have led to children being separated by their family at the border. Once they were done, Pompeo said “if there was only so much freedom of speech in Iran.” A handful of prominent Iranian-Americans were in the audience, including Washington Post columnist and former Tehran bureau chief Jason Rezaian. Rezaian spent months in Iranian detention on what many believed were spurious charges of spying on behalf of the United States. Also in attendance for the speech, titled “Supporting Iranian Voices,” was Makan Delrahim, a US assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice’s antitrust division. Delrahim came to the United States at 10 years old. 01:12 - Source: CNN Rouhani: Trump is not loyal to commitments Since his time in Congress, Pompeo has been a vocal critic of the Iranian regime and the internationally negotiated deal to limit Tehran’s nuclear program and subject it to international verification in exchange for sanctions relief. A new pressure campaign The Trump administration backed out of that deal in May. Among the President and Pompeo’s many criticisms of the accord was that it did not do enough to limit Iran’s destabilizing behavior in the region, such as funding Houthi rebels in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon, a powerful political force in that country. The United States considers Hezbollah a terror group. The Trump administration is now expected to re-enact many of the punishing sanctions that were in place before the 2015 agreement was reached, including limiting Iran’s ability to sell oil. “We are asking every nation who is sick and tired of the Islamic Republic’s destructive behavior to join our pressure campaign. This especially goes for our allies in the Middle East and Europe, people who have themselves been terrorized by violent regime activity for decades,” Pompeo said. “The goal of our efforts is to one day see Iranians in Iran enjoying the same quality of life that Iranians in America enjoy.” Rouhani has warned that the deal could fall apart and hinted that Iran could restart its nuclear efforts if the US were to re-enact sanctions, though the European signatories of the accord have pledged to honor it. ’Wolves in sheep’s clothing’ Many in the international community consider Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as moderates within Iran, owing to their support of the nuclear deal. 08:51 - Source: CNN Exclusive: Iranian president on nuke deal (full interview) In his speech, Pompeo criticized the notion that Zarif and Rouhani could be considered moderate when Iran has continued to fund Shiite-backed groups engaged in violence across the region. Presidential candidates in Iran must be vetted by a clerical body, and once elected the head of government answers to the Supreme Leader. “The regime’s revolutionary goals and willingness to commit violent acts hasn’t produced anyone to lead Iran that can remotely be called a statesman. Some believe that President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif fit the bill. The truth is they are merely polished front men for the ayatollahs’ international con artistry. Their nuclear deal didn’t make them moderates, it made them wolves in sheep’s clothing,” Pompeo said. “These so-called moderates within the regime are still violent Islamic revolutionaries with an anti-America, anti-West agenda.”<doc-sep>(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. 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 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. Tehran has said its nuclear work is just for electricity generation and other peaceful projects. 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 program 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, which have been at odds since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. “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 destabilize Iran’s Islamic government. Trump responded to Rouhani in a tweet late on Sunday, saying: “NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!” ‘LONG-IGNORED VOICE OF PEOPLE’ Publicly, the Trump administration says its policy with Iran is not “regime change,” but to change Tehran’s behavior 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. Pompeo spoke at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, to a packed house of about 1,000 people. He received frequent applause, although one audience member heckled him over the Trump administration’s immigration policies. Several dozen protesters lined the route to the site, including one group that distributed fliers opposing both Iran’s current government and any U.S. intervention in Iran. Pompeo said senior Iranian leaders had benefited from embezzlement, sweetheart deals and other ill-gotten gains. Iran’s ayatollahs, he said, were “hypocritical holy men” who “seem more concerned with riches than religion.” Pompeo said the U.S. government broadcasting agency was launching a 24/7 Farsi-language channel on TV, radio, digital and social media platforms. The U.S. government also is taking steps to help Iranians get around internet censorship, he said.<doc-sep>
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has launched a “maximum pressure campaign” targeting the Iranian government, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, in an effort to collapse the regime and its economy in support of a disempowered Iranian people.Speaking at the Reagan Presidential Library in California on Sunday, Pompeo sought to appeal to the diaspora of Iranians that had fled the country after the 1979 revolution. He claimed that President Donald Trump is “willing to talk to the regime in Tehran” if it shows signs of change. But no signs are forthcoming, he said.“The mission set for our team is clear,” Pompeo told gathered guests, including selectively invited Iranian Americans, donors, senators and congressmen: The administration will pursue a “diplomatic and economic pressure campaign” that will support the “shoots of liberty” growing through Iran’s rocky soil.It was the secretary’s second major speech on the topic of Iran, following the first major foreign policy speech of his tenure, on the path forward on Iran policy after Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear agreement in May.That decision, Pompeo said, has freed the US to reimpose crushing financial sanctions on the regime – and on those doing business with it. He repeated on Sunday that the administration seeks to force Iranian crude exports “as close to zero as possible by November 4,” when the harshest US sanctions lifted by the 2015 nuclear accord snap back into place.Earlier in the day, Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, warned that Trump’s efforts to pressure the regime were tantamount to a war cry – and that “war with Iran would be the mother of all wars.” But Pompeo hit back several times on Sunday night with biting language on the regime leadership, characterizing them as “hypocritical holy men” operating secret hedge funds “driven by a desire to conform all of the Iranian society to the tenets of the Iranian revolution.“Fighting the United States and destroying are at the heart of the regime’s philosophy,” he said, questioning whether “statesmen or moderates” have any place in the current government. “It’s like an Iranian unicorn,” he quipped, calling the leadership – including Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, “polished frontmen for the ayatollah’s international con-artistry.”He called them wolves in sheep’s clothing that dispatched “intolerant, black-robed enforcers” in the streets to enforce their rule. And yet he said the US was monitoring the most enduring protest moving across the country that it had seen since 1979, when the country’s Islamist mullahs took power.“Iranians want to be governed with dignity, accountability and respect,” he said. “A constitution that enshrines the export of Iranian revolution is not normal.”Thus the administration would work to support grassroots protests in the country, Pompeo said, in part by targeting the people with US government broadcasts and by offering Iranians tools to circumvent Iranian government censors of the Internet.Already, supporters of the regime likened that effort to foreign campaigns to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election, spreading the hashtag #StopMeddlingInIran on Twitter.And domestic critics of the administration, including veteran diplomats behind the 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran, were quick to criticize the speech.Pompeo’s words “were meant to assure the Iranian diaspora that the Trump administration stands with the Iranian people,” said Diplomacy Works, an organization that campaigns for the preservation of the nuclear accord. “Instead of providing reassurance, however, his speech only underscores the counterproductive nature of this administration’s Iran strategy and parallels efforts by the G. W. Bush administration to prepare for war in Iraq by exploiting the voices of exiled Iraqis to validate their destabilizing plan.“Data show that the sanctions regime this administration plans to impose following the president’s decision to violate the [Iran deal] will hurt the Iranian people – the very people Secretary Pompeo routinely promised to protect – far more than it will impact the IRGC or the government of Iran,” the statement continued.