US Vice President Mike Pence today warned Iran to "think twice" over its "hostile and belligerent actions" as "all options" were on the table for the new Trump administration, days after America slapped fresh sanctions on the Islamic republic after a ballistic missile test launch.
"The President said...All options are on the table. The Iranians will do well to look at the calendar and recognise that we've got a new president in the Oval Office," Pence told Fox News.
The warning comes a week after Pentagon chief James Mattis said Iran was "the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world."
US-Iran ties have hit the bottom since Donald Trump took office last month promising a tough line on the nuclear deal with Tehran reached during the previous Obama administration.
"That disastrous nuclear deal that the last administration entered into with Iran, should have encouraged better behaviour by the Iranians. But instead they're flouting UN Security Council resolutions, banning ballistic missile test or whether it'd be the way they're arming of Houthis in Yemen who just last week attacked a Saudi Arabian ship," he alleged.
"What we're seeing here is hostile action, belligerent action being supported by or taken by the Iranians. And we're just not going to put up with it anymore," Pence said.
In another interview to ABC News, he said the ballistic missile test launch last week were in direct violation of UNSC resolutions dealing with limiting them in that regard.
"That's the reason why the president took the decisive action that he took to impose economic sanctions on their supply chain for their missile programme," he said.
"But also, let's recognise that the Houthi rebels in Yemen are fully subsidised by Iran. The attack that the Houthis leveled using Iranian arms against a Saudi Arabian ship this last week, all represent the kind of hostile and belligerent actions that are simply not going to be tolerated by this administration," Pence said.
The Iranians got a deal from the international community that Trump and his administration think was a "terrible deal".
"It essentially allows Iran to develop a nuclear weapon - in the years ahead at a date certain. And they received hundreds of millions of dollars in cash," he alleged.
Pence said Trump is reviewing the deal and make a decision on it the days ahead.
"He'll listen to all of his advisors, but make no mistake about it. The resolve of this president is such that Iran would do well to think twice about their continued hostile and belligerent actions," he said.
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