Change your behaviour or be crushed by our military might: Pompeo to Iran

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that the US will "crush" Iran with military pressure and by imposing sanctions till the time it changes its behaviour in the Middle East.

According to CNN, many analysts saw this pressurising scheme as a policy of regime change in everything but name.

Pompeo, days after President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, on Monday said the US will monitor Tehran's regional activities, restrict its influence in the Middle East and ensure that it never acquires a nuclear weapon.

On May 8, US President Donald Trump announced the Washington withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or the Iran nuclear deal which limited the country's uranium enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief.

Calling the accord as an "embarrassment" that was "defective at its core", he also warned of severe consequences if Iran resumes its nuclear programme.

US acted more as an enemy than friend: EU on Trump's Iran nuclear deal exit

Reportedly, the European Union is miffed with the United States President Donald Trump over his decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.

As per certain media reports on Wednesday, the European Union has slammed the United States saying that it acted more as an enemy than a friend.

It is further said to be forming a united European front against the US in response to leaving the Iran nuclear deal and imposition of trade tariffs on Europe.

One of the EU officials compared the US to its all weather-enemies Moscow and Beijing as he quoted a famous saying 'with friends like that, who needs enemies'.

Earlier, the EU officials met their Iranian counterparts in a bid to save the deal, formally known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was left in the lurch after President Trump on May 9 announced withdrawal from the deal.

Trump exits Iran nuclear deal: Oil price may soar, hit India, says Assocham

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday called President Donald Trump's speech announcing US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement with Tehran "silly and superficial".

"Last night you heard that the US President made silly and superficial remarks. There were may be more than 10 lies in his comments. He threatened both the establishment and the nation, saying he will do this and that," Ayatollah Khamenei said in a meeting with a number of teachers and university professors in Tehran.

"Trump, I tell you on behalf of the Iranian nation: You are making a damn mistake and you cannot do anything," Khamenei was quoted as saying by Press TV.

On Tuesday, Trump announced Washington's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). It was signed between Iran and China, France, Russia, Britain, the US and Germany besides the EU.

Iran, in the 2015 pact, had agreed to halt its nuclear programme in return for an easing of economic sanctions on Tehran.

Wall Street erases losses after Donald Trump quits Iran nuclear deal

Wall Street cut losses to end little changed on Tuesday while energy stocks rallied after US President Donald Trump said the United States would quit the Iran nuclear deal, confirming what many investors had expected.

In a televised speech, Trump said the United States would withdraw from a 2015 international agreement designed to deny Tehran the ability to build nuclear weapons, and also reinstate sanctions on Iran.

The S&P energy sector erased earlier losses to end the day up 0.78 per cent as oil prices reduced earlier declines on bets that the sanctions would disrupt global crude supplies.

"You have seem some modest flight to quality, though it hasn't been major," said Brian Daingerfield, macro strategist at NatWest Markets in Stamford, Connecticut. "There's still quite a bit of uncertainty about the future of the deal even now that the U.S. has made its intentions clear."

Third-highest ranking US diplomat quits in latest departure under Trump

The US State Department’s third-ranking official, Tom Shannon, said on Thursday he was stepping down, the latest senior career diplomat to exit since President Donald Trump took office a year ago.
Shannon, who serves as under secretary of state for political affairs, is the most senior career diplomat at the State Department and has been a fixture among the nation’s diplomatic ranks during more than 34 years of service spanning six presidents and 10 secretaries of state.

In a letter to department staff, Shannon, 60, said he was resigning for personal reasons.
“My decision is personal, and driven by a desire to attend to my family, take stock of my life, and set a new direction for my remaining years,” Shannon wrote in a note to staff after informing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday of his decision to retire.

Israel, Egypt pushed US to bomb Iran before 2015 nuclear deal: John Kerry

Former Secretary of State John Kerry says both Israel and Egypt pushed the United States to "bomb Iran" before the 2015 nuclear deal was struck.

Kerry is defending the deal during a forum in Washington. He says kings and foreign presidents told the US that bombing was the only language Iran would understand. But Kerry says that was "a trap" in many ways because the same countries would have publicly criticised the US if it bombed.

Kerry says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "genuinely agitating toward action."

Kerry says he doesn't know whether Iran will resume pursuing a nuclear weapon in 10 to 15 years after restrictions in the deal sunset. But he says it was the best deal the US could get.
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