Pompeo: The Iranian regime has plundered national wealth for proxy wars

Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State, pointed to a 30% unemployment rate among Iranian youth and the economic hardships faced by families, accusing the Islamic Republic of plundering the country's national wealth to fund proxy wars and enrich the IRGC, Hezbollah, and Hamas. In several tweets published on Thursday, June 21, he first criticized the performance of the UN Human Rights Council and then mentioned instances of human rights violations in Iran. Three days ago, the U.S. announced its withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council due to 'institutional bias against Israel' and the membership of several human rights violators in the council. Pompeo criticized the UN Human Rights Council, stating that 'the United States has always pressured for the reform of human rights standards in Iran,' and noted that this UN body 'issues numerous resolutions on Israel every year but only one resolution on Iran and one on North Korea.' In another tweet, he shared a chart showing the number of detainees in Iran over the past year, indicating that the number of arrests has increased several times from December 2016 to December 2017. The U.S. Secretary of State also highlighted the wave of arrests in Iran, including five thousand people during the nationwide protests last December, 30 women during protests against compulsory hijab, hundreds of dervishes, dozens of environmental activists, 400 people in Ahvaz, and 30 farmers in Isfahan, stating: 'All of these have been imprisoned by the criminal regime of Iran. The people of Iran deserve to be respected for their human rights.' The nationwide protests last December resulted in at least 25 deaths and hundreds of injuries, with around five thousand arrests. The issuance of heavy sentences for those arrested during those protests has also been met with protests in recent weeks, including reports from several students who were detained in December now announcing heavy prison sentences for themselves. In another tweet, Pompeo shared an image stating: 'Nearly 30% of Iranian youth are unemployed.' He also wrote: 'The corrupt Iranian regime has sought to enrich the IRGC, Hezbollah, and Hamas while the families of Iranians are struggling, plundering the national wealth for proxy wars outside of Iran.' Iranian officials have not yet responded to the new statements from the U.S. Secretary of State, but they have previously denied similar accusations. Pompeo's tweets came a day after an article from Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who listed Tehran's demands from Washington in response to Pompeo's twelve conditions. On the other hand, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, has repeatedly pointed to economic problems in Iran but referred to the solution for these problems as 'resilient economy,' the meaning of which is unclear. He also recently asked the parliament to set aside a bill to join international conventions, including combating money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, and to 'legislate independently on these matters.' Khamenei emphasized that in negotiations with European countries regarding the fate of the JCPOA, Europe 'must guarantee' that it will not address the issues of missile programs and Iran's actions in the region.