Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Compares Iran’s Leaders to the Mafia

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned the U.S. on Sunday that it could shut down international oil shipments in the Strait of Hormuz if Washington continued to provoke Tehran. “Americans should know that…a war [with Iran] would be the mother of all wars,” he said.

As reported earlier on Matzav, President Donald Trump responded on Twitter to President Rouhani, writing, “Never, ever threaten the United States again or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before. We are no longer a country that will stand for your demented words of violence and death. Be cautious!”

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday, “The level of corruption and wealth among regime leaders shows that Iran is run by something that resembles the Mafia more than a government” – a message the U.S. plans to broadcast heavily in Iran.

Pompeo said the U.S. is creating a round-the-clock Farsi channel across television, radio, digital and social media formats to circumvent Internet censorship in Iran “so that ordinary Iranians inside Iran and around the globe will know that America stands with them.”
Pompeo singled out “the billionaire general,” Interior Minister Sadegh Mahsouli; Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, the “Sultan of Sugar”; and Sadeq Ardeshir Larijani, the head of Iran’s judiciary, whom he said had embezzled $300 million in public money.

Pompeo said Tehran has no moderates. “Some believe that President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif fit the bill,” he said. “The truth is they are merely polished front men for the Ayatollah’s international con artistry. Their nuclear deal didn’t make them moderates, it made them wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

{CB Frommer-Matzav.com, with reporting by the Washington Post}