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Iran waiting for new sanctions, Pompeo looking for allies

The United States is due to unveil a new set of economic sanctions against Iran, while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is visiting Saudi Arabia to discuss a “global coalition” against Tehran.

President Donald Trump announced last week that sanctions would be imposed as early as Monday in response to the attack on an American drone by the Iranian army last week .

However, the spokesman of the Foreign Ministry of Iran, Abbas Moussavi, doubts that these new measures have a real impact on the economy of his country.

“We really do not know what these [sanctions] are or where they want to hit, but we do not think they will have any results,” he said.

However, we take seriously any [new] sanction, which we consider to be a hostile act consistent with economic terrorism and the economic war launched against our nation , he added.

Since June, Iran’s crude oil exports have fallen below 300,000 barrels a day because of US sanctions, according to data collected by Reuters.

The United States solicits their allies

Meanwhile, the US State Secretary, Mike Pompeo , Monday met Salman Saudi king and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to establish a global coalition against Iran, accused of being the largest state in the world sponsoring terrorism .

Mr. Pompeo then goes to the United Arab Emirates, another ally of the United States in the Arab peninsula.

The destruction of an American drone by the Iranian army provoked the ire of Donald Trump and his national security advisor, John Bolton . Mr. Trump has also canceled Friday in extremis retaliatory strikes to prevent human deaths despite the advice of his entourage, according to US media.

Washington has reportedly launched a wave of cyberattacks against missile launch systems and an Iranian spy ring.

Tehran swept aside these attacks in a message from its Minister of Telecommunications posted on Twitter.

We have been facing the cyberterrorism and unilateralism of the United States for a long time, but so far none of their attacks have been successful , wrote Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi.

Tensions between the United States and Iran have risen dramatically since the withdrawal of the Americans from the Iranian nuclear deal signed in 2015 and the reinstatement of economic sanctions. Relations eventually became more severe after attacks – attributed by Washington to Tehran – against oil ships in the Gulf of Oman .

On Monday, Trump urged oil importing countries to protect their own ships .

“Ninety-one per cent of China’s oil imports pass through the Straits of Hormuz, 62 per cent for Japan, and the same goes for many other countries,” Trump said. “Why are we protecting these shipping routes [for many years] for other countries without any compensation?” he asked.

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