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Pompeo posts Iran countdown clock: ‘Time is running out’

Pompeo dramatized the fact that international agreements holding Iran back will soon expire by posting a countdown clock to the State Department website.

By World Israel News Staff

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned that international agreements restraining Iran are going to expire. He urged the international community to “stand together against the Iranian regime’s support for terror.”

To dramatize the situation he posted to the State Department website a countdown clock showing that in about 15 months, the agreements will expire.

“The Islamic regime in Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terror. For over 40 years their malign behavior and support for terrorist proxies has spread uncurbed,” the State Department message says.

The statement then condemns the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), better known as the 2015 nuclear deal, negotiated by the Obama administration for placing “even more resources and money at the regime’s disposal, furthering the reach and aggression of their malign activities.”

“This is why the United States left the JCPOA and implemented decisive sanctions to curb the regime’s ability to fund terror,” the statement says.

It warns that “time is running out on international agreements restraining the Iranian regime.”

The State Department statement notes that Qasem Soleimani, head of the “brutal” Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, will be able to travel on October 18, 2020.

“Soon after, the Iranian regime will also be free to sell weapons to anyone, including terrorist proxies, and countries like Russia and China will be able to sell the Iranian regime tanks, missiles, and air defense equipment. This could start a new arms race in the Middle East and further destabilize the region and the world.”

“Time is ticking,” the statement ends.

Tensions have risen between the U.S. and Iran ever since the Trump administration pulled out of the nuclear deal in May 2018. A sharp escalation began in early May of this year when the U.S. sent a Navy carrier group to the region due to unspecified threats that Iran planned to attack U.S. forces.

Iran has since been blamed for sabotaging oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and has seized one British-flagged tanker and one Panama-flagged tanker, which it continues to hold.

Analysts says Iran may be upping the ante due to the pressure it’s feeling from U.S. sanctions, which have had a significant negative impact on its economy.