Pressure is mounting on India to cut oil import from Iran. US Ambassador to United Nations Nikki Haley, who is on a visit to India, came out strongly against Iran on Thursday, dubbing it “the next North Korea”.
She also made it clear that the Trump administration will be pushing its friends and allies to exert pressure on Iran.
The US administration plans to reimpose the sanctions on Iran—lifted by Barrack Obama post the Iran deal—and has set a November deadline, by when it hopes to push its allies to stop trading with Iran. “We did talk about this with Prime Minister Modi. I did because we do have this in terms of our dialogue. Because India also recognises the threat....We understand that logistics come into play with Iran, but we have to make sure that the priority is peace and security,’’ said Haley, post her lecture organised by the Observer Research Foundation. “As long as the priority is peace and security, the US is going to continue to try to work with our partners, our friends, our allies, to make sure that we are all pushing Iran.”
Her visit comes in the backdrop of America postponing the 2+2 talks for the third time. “Our relationship will mark a new milestone when the US and India conduct the first ever 2+2 dialogue. The delay in that meeting was completely unrelated to India. The time and the location are being re-scheduled now. It will happen soon,’’ she said.
However, it is clear that America—and the Trump administration—is following the line set by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who had used his first public address to declare that America will impose the strictest sanctions on Iran. Haley has continued with the same policy, and came out all guns blazing by referring to Iran a “theocratic dictatorship that abuses its people, funds terrorism and spreads conflict throughout the Middle East.”
Clubbing Iran with South Sudan and North Korea, Haley said, “The Tehran regime is the hidden and sometimes not-so-hidden force behind most of the conflict in the region. And its aggressive ambitions reach much further abroad. Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon threatens all of us.”
The stage is now set for further confrontation. The question is who will blink first?