Mike Pompeo: The sanctions punish corrupt Iranian officials, not the people

Mike Pompeo: The sanctions punish corrupt Iranian officials, not the people

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Feb.23, 2019 - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Washington is trying to sanction bad actors in ways that don’t harm ordinary Iranian people.

In response to a question by an Iranian social media user asking why the U.S. doesn’t sanction those Iranian institutions that participate in violating human rights in Iran like the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), or the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), Pompeo said: “It saddens me, it saddens hundreds of millions of Americans that the leadership in Iran won’t protect the very human rights to which you refer.”

Mr. Pompeo further said that the U.S. is “trying to do” their “part by sanctioning over 140 some Iranian entities and people.”

Later in the interview he said that the U.S. is trying to impose sanctions “in ways don’t harm ordinary Iranians but penalize bad actors, the leaders of the country that have taken the nation down a path which has had 40 years of failure now after the revolution.”

Addressing Iranians, U.S. Secretary of State said: “We’ll continue to look to find out who the wrongdoers are, find out which organizations are corrupting your country and making your life worse and when we find a way to do that the United States stand ready to partner with the Iranian people on sanctions and all things related to human rights inside of your country.”