Pompeo: There’s ‘no indication’ Iran will change direction

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday that Iran has to decide if it wants to act like a “normal nation” but that it showed “no indications” of changing direction amid increasing tensions. 

“The Iranian regime has to make a decision that it wants to behave like a normal nation,” Pompeo said at a news conference with Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno, according to a video of his remarks published by Reuters. {mosads}

Pompeo said that if the Iranians do that, The U.S. is “prepared to negotiate across a broad spectrum of issues with no preconditions,” but said there were “no indications that the Iranians are prepared to fundamentally change the direction of their nation.”

“If they do the things we’ve asked them to do on their nuclear program, their missile program, their malign behavior around the world — I mean, you can just watch their actions. These are actions that threaten,” Pompeo said.

His remarks follow Iran’s Friday interception of a British oil tanker. Iran on Saturday reportedly defended that move as a”reciprocal action” after British assistance in the seizure an Iranian supertanker.

The country in recent weeks exceeded the uranium stockpile and enrichment levels agreed upon in a 2015 nuclear deal, a nuclear monitor confirmed. 

Relations between the U.S. and Iran have been strained since President Trump pulled the U.S. from the deal last year.