Strait of Hormuz 0
29 November 2019

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo indicated that “President Trump’s strategic effort certainly includes sanctions as an element of our efforts to make the [Iranian] leadership change their ways. But it is only one component, we think that has been an effective component, we think they are having to make very difficult choices about whether to feed their people, to provide medicine for their people or if they want to underwrite the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza or Hizbollah in Lebanon”. “We hope they will begin to make the right decision, we hope the people in Iraq will force them to make the right decision”, he added. Pompeo went on to elaborate that “our campaign has also been political and diplomatic, to get countries around the world to recognise Iran as the largest state sponsor of terrorism.… We are trying to unite the world alongside us, including the Europeans, who have taken a very different approach on the JCPOA, and President Trump is working to ensure that the Islamic Republic of Iran knows that they cannot engage in an activity like they have without there being a cost”. He additionally referred to “an increase in our deterrence capabilities by our activity in the Strait of Hormuz” as well as military deployments and weapons sales to U.S. allies in the Gulf and stated: “we hope that the combination of those things will restore deterrence to a level that is satisfactory, and the leadership will understand that there is a cost to their malign activity wherever it takes place”.

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