"We know our campaign is working because now the Iranians are desperately signaling their willingness to return to the negotiating table to get sanctions relief,” Pompeo said in virtual remarks at the annual International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Dialogue in Bahrain.
The U.S. has imposed the most inhuman economic sanctions on Iran to pressure it to negotiate stricter curbs on its nuclear program. The sanctions were imposed after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal in 2018.
While the U.S. has piled up on the sanctions, Iran has stayed firm and seen its economy weather the storm after disruptions in its trade with world countries, dealing a serious blow to Trump’s hope of bringing Tehran to its knees.
Pompeo appears to have taken heart from a series of remarks by some Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani and his Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif, about a possible opening if the U.S. returns to the nuclear accord under the new administration of President-elect Joe Biden.
President Rouhani, whose government negotiated the 2015 Iran accord, on Wednesday opposed a parliament’s bill which he said was counterproductive to diplomacy.
"The government does not agree with this legislation and considers it damaging for diplomacy,” he said before the measure was ratified.
His government is now obliged to carry out the law, because it was ratified by Iran’s Guardian Council, a body that oversees the bills to ensure they are not against national interests.
Zarif said Thursday that although the government did not like the law, it would nonetheless implement it.
"But it is not irreversible,” he said. "The Europeans and USA can come back into compliance with the JCPOA and not only this law will not be implemented, but in fact the actions we have taken ... will be rescinded. We will go back to full compliance.”
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, however, admitted that while the Europeans are interested in reviving a nuclear deal which is on life support, Iran has every right not to "play with the same cards again”.
Iranians are enraged after the recent assassination of top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in a complicated operation near Tehran. Iran’s nuclear program has been the target of repeated terrorist attacks even after the 2015 nuclear deal with the Europeans, the U.S. and other countries.
In an interview with Euronews network, Borrell said Europe has been very interested in the survival of the nuclear deal with Iran.
"I have had to keep it alive, hibernating a little, but it hasn’t died. And now we also have to see what the Iranians think, because the Iranians can rightly feel cheated. And maybe they are the ones who won’t want to play with the same cards again. But we’ll have to wait,” he said.
The U.S. has imposed the most inhuman economic sanctions on Iran to pressure it to negotiate stricter curbs on its nuclear program. The sanctions were imposed after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal in 2018.
While the U.S. has piled up on the sanctions, Iran has stayed firm and seen its economy weather the storm after disruptions in its trade with world countries, dealing a serious blow to Trump’s hope of bringing Tehran to its knees.
Pompeo appears to have taken heart from a series of remarks by some Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani and his Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif, about a possible opening if the U.S. returns to the nuclear accord under the new administration of President-elect Joe Biden.
President Rouhani, whose government negotiated the 2015 Iran accord, on Wednesday opposed a parliament’s bill which he said was counterproductive to diplomacy.
"The government does not agree with this legislation and considers it damaging for diplomacy,” he said before the measure was ratified.
His government is now obliged to carry out the law, because it was ratified by Iran’s Guardian Council, a body that oversees the bills to ensure they are not against national interests.
Zarif said Thursday that although the government did not like the law, it would nonetheless implement it.
"But it is not irreversible,” he said. "The Europeans and USA can come back into compliance with the JCPOA and not only this law will not be implemented, but in fact the actions we have taken ... will be rescinded. We will go back to full compliance.”
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, however, admitted that while the Europeans are interested in reviving a nuclear deal which is on life support, Iran has every right not to "play with the same cards again”.
Iranians are enraged after the recent assassination of top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in a complicated operation near Tehran. Iran’s nuclear program has been the target of repeated terrorist attacks even after the 2015 nuclear deal with the Europeans, the U.S. and other countries.
In an interview with Euronews network, Borrell said Europe has been very interested in the survival of the nuclear deal with Iran.
"I have had to keep it alive, hibernating a little, but it hasn’t died. And now we also have to see what the Iranians think, because the Iranians can rightly feel cheated. And maybe they are the ones who won’t want to play with the same cards again. But we’ll have to wait,” he said.
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