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Pompeo said on September 21 that Washington was determined to keep up its "maximum pressure" effort against the Islamic Republic “until Iran is willing to conclude a comprehensive negotiation that addresses the regime’s malign behaviour".
He added that the US is “always open to diplomacy with Iran, but Iran must respond with diplomacy, not with more violence, bloodshed, and nuclear extortion. Until then, maximum pressure will continue".
The US on September 21 imposed sanctions on 27 individuals and entities involved in Iran’s nuclear development, ballistic missile and conventional weapons programmes as it pushed ahead with its claim that it has legally managed to unilaterally reinstate UN sanctions on Tehran.
Washington demanded that the European Union follow suit. But the US has received almost zero support​ f​ or the sanctions snapback at the UN Security Council and Europe’s big three, namely the UK, France and Germany (E3) say its move is null and void. The Europeans are in effect accusing the US of introducing rogue sanctions.
Those hit with the new sanctions included officials at the Iranian ministry of defence, nuclear scientists, three bodies associated with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and anyone deemed to be trading in conventional weapons with Iran.
Announcing the sanctions, Pompeo said the E3 would be required to both comply with the sanctions and enforce them.
2.4​ ​Soaring “third wave” coronavirus infections and missing wealth fund money
Iran’s health ministry on September 23 reported 3,605 new coronavirus (COVID-19) infections in the previous 24 hours, just short of the highest daily tally recorded since February of 3,712 which was recorded the day before. That pushed the official national cumulative total to 432,798.
Also in the 24-hour cycle, 184 people in Iran died from the virus, according to health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari. The number of deaths from coronavirus thus reached 24,840, she added. There remains a great deal of scepticism that the official picture relays the true extent of COVID-19 infections and deaths in Iran, with previous leaks to the media indicating the real tallies are several-fold higher.
Reports of entire towns being locked down and closed off to incoming traffic are now rampant in the country, with officials conceding that almost the entire country is on“red alert” and talking about a “third wave” of infections. The health ministry also stated that 3,746,629 COVID-19 diagnostic tests had been performed in the country of 84mn to date.
Lari announced that the provinces of Tehran, Isfahan, Qom, East Azerbaijan, South Khorasan, Semnan, Qazvin, Lorestan, Ardabil, Khuzestan,
7​ IRAN Country Report October 2020 www.intellinews.com