<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>
Mike Pompeo’s imposition of further sanctions is another disaster for the people of Iran and could cause Tehran to raise the stakes
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 yet more unilateral sanctions on Iran. This was akin to pouring petrol on a burning building, then waiting to see how big an explosion ensues.
The timing of the new measures was doubly inept. Iran’s freeing of thousands of political prisoners last week raised hopes of full pardons for jailed US citizens and the British-Iranian dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been temporarily released.
Trump’s campaign of coercion and ostracism has failed disastrously
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