Pompeo: World called for cooperation to secure navigation in Hormuz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on world nations to cooperate to secure maritime traffic in the strategic Strait of Hormuz from Iranian threats, while Britain ruled out an exchange with Iran in the crisis over the two hijacked ships.

During a speech at the Washington Institute of Economics, Pompeo said the United States knows its role in securing navigation, stressing that the world should help the United States in securing the strait.

Pompeo touched on the case of the British oil tanker being held by Iran, noting that he was working with his British counterpart to find a solution to the issue.

The US secretary of state denied talks with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Jawad Zarif, who visited the United States several days ago to attend a UN meeting.

Pompio stressed that the administration of President Donald Trump two years ago developed a strategy on the Middle East, which was based on a complete change to the previous US policies.

The US official attacked the policies of former President Barack Obama's administration, saying it allowed Iran's arms to launch attacks, such as Hezbollah and Houthi militias, stressing that Washington was working to counter these attacks.

The Secretary of State stressed that Iran is the largest source of terrorists, and that it seeks to acquire a nuclear weapon, which could lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Middle East.

Pompeo confirmed that US sanctions on Iran had succeeded. Iran's oil sales had been reduced by 95 percent, depriving the "mullahs" of financing militias destabilizing the region.

Pompeo confirmed yesterday that Tehran refused to offer to travel to Iran and address the Iranian people directly.

"I finally offered to travel to Tehran and talk directly to the Iranian people, and the regime did not accept that accidental," Pompeo said in a tweet through his social networking account Twitter.

"We are not afraid of the arrival of Iranian Foreign Minister Jawad Zarif to America where he has the right to speak freely. Is the reality of the Khamenei regime so bad that it can not allow me to do the same in Tehran? What if his people heard the truth, not revised, and not concise ».

Pompeo responded to Bloomberg TV's question about the possibility of going to the Iranian capital one day and said, "Certainly," before adding that he would "go there willingly."

He pointed out that Zarif "speaks to the media, to American public opinion, and can broadcast Iranian propaganda on American waves."

"I would like to have a chance to go there, not to propaganda, but to tell the truth to the people of Iran about what their rulers did and now it hurts Iran," he said.

For its part, Iran revealed that the United States rejected an offer this month to conduct intensive inspections of its nuclear facilities in exchange for lifting sanctions, saying that the reason is that Washington "does not seek dialogue."

In London, the new British Foreign Minister Dominique Rapp categorically refused to enter into any exchange with Iran in the crisis of the two detained ships or even release them simultaneously to contain the tension.

"No exchange," he told BBC radio. "It's not a kind of barter. It is about respect for international law and the rules of the existing international legal order. " "This is what we will insist on," he said.

"It is impossible to proceed with the release of the British tanker in exchange for the release of the Iranian tanker as British media suggest," Iranian Ambassador to Britain Hamid Baidi-Nejad told Reuters on Twitter.

He attributed the Ahmadinejad to this that «Britain has detained the Iranian carrier illegally, while the British carrier was detained for violating some rules of safety or security in the Strait of Hormuz», he said.

But Britain's ambassador to Iran, Robert MacKayer, said on Twitter that "easing tensions is the first priority of Britain and its embassy in Tehran, and that the calm from the level of tension remains the first priority of the embassy and Britain."

Iran yesterday posted a record of communications between its troops and a British warship, warning Iranians against British crew members to "endanger their lives."

The audio tape, which was broadcast on Iranian state television, was accompanied by a video showing the frigate "HMS Montrose".

In the audiotape, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards warn the British warship to intervene with a message that says: "British warship Vauxhrutt 236, with you Navy patrol boat. An officer on board the British ship says that "Foxtrot 236 is located near an international strait that accompanies a commercial vessel passing through it."

The Iranian officer warns the British ship, "Do not endanger your life."

The state television broadcast a voice recording of another incident on July 10, in which the Iranians said, "British warship Vauxhrutt 236, with you the ship Sebah. British tanker British Heritage is under our control. We advise you not to interfere in the process. "