VOA常速英语:A Warning and an Invitation for Iran

In a recent interview, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned that there would be dire consequences for Iran if the regime's leaders, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Qasem Soleimani, Commander of the IRGC Quds Force, restarted a nuclear weapons program.

Secretary Pompeo said that United States' allies in the Middle East, as well as European allies with whom the U.S. disagrees about the value of the JCPOA, the Iran nuclear deal, all understand the threat that Iran presents: “whether it's malign activity with Hezbollah, or in Yemen, or in Syria, or in Iraq, or its missile program that is launching missiles into airports that Westerners travel through. There is a unified understanding of Iran's malevolent behavior,” he declared, “and it will be an incredibly united world should Iran choose to head down a nuclear weapons path.”

Secretary Pompeo said he is referring to the “moral opprobrium and economic power” that would be marshalled against the Iranian regime, should its leaders take that path. “I'm not talking to military action here,” he said. “I truly hope that's never the case. It's not in anyone's best interest for that. But make no mistake. President [Donald] Trump has been very clear: Iran will not get a nuclear weapon nor start its weapons program on this President's watch.”

There is another course available to Iran, Secretary Pompeo noted, which would allow Iran to become a member of the community of nations. He laid the required dozen steps out in detail last month.He reiterated some of them: “Stop launching missiles into non-hostile nations; cease support of terrorism around the world; don't go down the path of a nuclear weapons system. The asks from the United States in order for Iran to return to the community of nations are all we ask of other countries around the world to be part of the international system,” he said.

Recently through his Twitter account, Secretary of State Pompeo again expressed support for the Iranian people as they seek to exercise their fundamental human rights. Those are, after all, the people who would most benefit from a change in the policies of their government. Such support, Mr. Pompeo said, “is a mark of President Trump and our administration. We are very hopeful that there will be an increase in the democratic values, and the capacity for Iranians to speak their mind inside the Islamic Republic of Iran.”