Pompeo Issues New Denunciation of Iran, Condemns IRGC Satellite Launch

April 26, 2020 (EIRNS)—U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a warlike statement yesterday, in response to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ launch of a satellite into low-Earth orbit on April 22. Pompeo equated the launch to militarism. “No country has ever pursued an ICBM capability except for the purpose of delivering nuclear weapon,” Pompeo declared. Therefore, “All peace-loving nations must reject Iran’s development of ballistic-missile capable technologies and join together to constrain Iran’s dangerous missile programs. As a start, nations should support extending the UN conventional arms embargo on Iran, which is set to expire this October.”

Pompeo said, “When the Iranian people are suffering and dying from the coronavirus pandemic, it is regrettable to see the regime waste its resources and efforts on provocative military pursuits that do nothing to help the Iranian people.” Meanwhile, Pompeo continues to oppose lifting any sanctions that might ease the suffering of the Iranian people in the pandemic.

A secondary intention behind Pompeo’s statement can easily be to try to push up the price of oil on global markets, as the result of the prospect of sudden shortages from Middle East conflict. The world oil price did rise for two days after the April 22 missile launch, and President Donald Trump’s tweet announcing that he had ordered the U.S. Navy to destroy any Iranian speedboats if they harassed U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf.