By Mahmoud Hakamian
America and its Gulf Arab allies want to show Iran its actions have “a real high cost”. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said During his visit to the United Arab Emirates.
Pompeo’s comments on Tuesday to a U.S. ally that hosts some 5,000 American forces at a crucial air base and the U.S. Navy’s busiest foreign port of call, showed that the US is stepping up its pressure on Tehran after the regime threatened to disrupt Mideast oil supplies.
Although offering no specifics, his message surely fell on interested ears. The UAE long has been suspicious of the Iran nuclear deal with world powers, from which President Trump recently announced the US exit.
“The one that we are most focused on today is … that we deny Iran the financial capacity to continue this bad behavior,” Pompeo said. “So it’s a broad range, a series of sanctions aimed not at the Iranian people, but rather aimed at the single mission of convincing the Iranian regime that its malign behavior is unacceptable and has a real high cost for them.”
Pompeo also discussed the recent threats made by Iran regime’s President Hassan Rouhani regarding the Strait of Hormuz, through which a third of all oil traded by sea passes. During his visit to Europe last week, Rouhani said any disruption to Iran’s oil exports would result in the whole region’s exports being disrupted.
Because it is expected that the U.S. will push its allies to stop importing Iranian crude oil, Global oil prices have risen. Allies like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait claim that they are willing to increase their own production as necessary. However, additional output may not be enough to satisfy demand.
According to AAA, gasoline prices in the U.S. are now $2.86 a gallon, a jump from the $2.26 of last year. Trump has been tweeting that oil suppliers must do more to lower prices.
Pompeo said that Iran “should know that America is committed to keeping sea lines open, keeping the transit of oil available for the entire world.” He added, “That’s the commitment we have had for decades. We continue under that commitment.”