Trump’s callous sanctions risk tipping Iran over the nuclear precipice

<div><p>Mike Pompeo’s imposition of further sanctions is another disaster for the people of Iran and could cause Tehran to raise the stakes</p><p>Displaying the sort of unthinking bellicosity that has characterised his tenure as US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo chose last week – a time of unprecedented global turmoil – to impose <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/19/us-iran-coronavirus-sanctions-rocket-attacks-iraq-camp-taji/" title="">yet more unilateral sanctions on Iran</a>. This was akin to pouring petrol on a burning building, then waiting to see how big an explosion ensues.</p><p>The timing of the new measures was doubly inept. Iran’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/19/iran-to-pardon-10000-including-security-prisoners" title="">freeing of thousands of political prisoners</a> last week raised hopes of full pardons for jailed US citizens and the British-Iranian dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/mar/17/nazanin-zaghari-ratcliffe-freed-temporarily-from-iranian-prison" title="">temporarily released</a>. </p><p>Trump’s campaign of coercion and ostracism has failed disastrously</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/21/trump-pompeo-iran-callous-sanctions-nuclear-precipice">Continue reading...</a></div>