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U.S. Calls to Unite Against Iranian Threat to Freedom of Navigation
(U.S. State Department) Secretary of State Michael Pompeo told CBS Face the Nation on Friday: "We don't want Iran to get a nuclear weapon. The previous administration put them on a pathway that virtually guaranteed that they could get there, so we withdrew from the ridiculous JCPOA and are moving ourselves towards a set of policies which will convince Iran to behave simply like a normal nation." Q: CENTCOM released this video - purporting to show an IRGC Revolutionary Guard patrol boat pulling up alongside these vessels and removing a mine from the hull of the ship. How certain are you that this is the IRGC? Pompeo: "We don't just purport. That's what that video is. This was taken from an American camera, and this is the real data....I will concede there are countries that just wish this would go away, and they want to act in a way that is counterfactual. No one disputes that this is the Islamic Republic of Iran taking these actions to deny this international waterway and the freedom of navigation that is a fundamental right of every country to travel through that....The world needs to unite against this threat from the Islamic Republic of Iran." "I'll remind you too, China gets over 80% of its crude oil transiting through the Strait of Hormuz. South Korea, Japan - these nations are incredibly dependent on these resources. We're prepared to do our part. We always defend freedom of navigation. We are going to work to build out a set of countries that have a deep, vested interest in keeping that strait open to help us do that."