US genuinely wants to ‘starve’ Iranians: Ron Paul

TEHRAN(Basirat): US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent threat to “starve” Iranian people through economic pressure was a rare instance of truthfulness in America’s foreign policy, prominent American thinker Ron Paul says.

Last week, the US secretary of state told BBC Persian that Iranian officials must listen to Washington "if they want their people to eat."

The administration of US President Donald Trump announced on November 5 the re-imposition of the "toughest” sanctions ever against Iran's banking and energy sectors with the aim of cutting off its oil sales and crucial exports. The bans had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The first round of the anti-Iran bans -- which had been lifted under the accord -- was re-imposed in August.

Pompeo also said in his interview that since the re-introduction of the sanctions, there was no sign yet that Iranian officials would return to the table for talks.

In the latest episode of his online show "Liberty Report,” Paul said the top US diplomat’s remarks were important because not often American leaders tend to reveal Washington’s true intentions.

"It’s not often that US government officials are honest when they talk about our foreign policy,” the former congressman and presidential candidate said in his weekly update video posted on Monday.

"The unprovoked 2003 attack on Iraq was called a liberation, the 2011 US-led destruction of Libya was a humanitarian intervention and so on,” he explained.

Referring to Pompeo’s last week remarks, where the US foreign secretary threatened the Iranian people with starvation, Paul said Pompeo meant that the new US sanctions imposed against Iran sought to "starve Iranian unless the Iranian leadership accepts US demands.”

"His statement also reveals the length to which the neocons are willing to go to get regime change in Iran,” Paul added.

He said Washington had in the past starved Iraqi children to death for political purposes and Pompeo more or less viewed the situation with Iran as the same.

Paul said the US only wanted Iran’s economy to crumble and it wouldn’t mind if a few million lives were lost in the process.

"How twisted is US foreign policy that Washington considers it normal to impose sanctions specifically designed to make life miserable or worse for civilians,” he asked.

He said the US had no reason to sanction Iran because Tehran was not threatening to starve millions of Americans or attack them.

'Saudi genocide in Yemen'

He added that the sanctions would have made sense if like Saudi Arabia, Iran was also supporting al-Qaeda or waging war against the people of Yemen.

"So what is normal?” Paul asked, before saying, "the continued Saudi genocide in Yemen does not bother Washington a bit.”

"In fact, Saudi aggression in Yemen is viewed as just another opportunity to strike out at Iran,” he said. "By making phony claims that Yemen’s Houthis are Iran-backed, the US government justifies literally handing Saudis the bombs to drop on Yemeni school buses while claiming it is fighting Iranian-backed terrorism, is that normal?”

He blasted Pompeo for blaming Yemen’s humanitarian crisis on Iran and pushing to blacklist the Houthi Ansarullah Movement as a terror group "for the crime of fighting back against Saudi and US aggression.”

"So yes… Pompeo said one wicked truth last week but before demands that countries like Iran start acting normal or face starvation perhaps he should look at the mirror,” Paul said.

"Are Pompeo and the neocons normal? I don’t think so,” he concluded.