US to keep up pressure on Iran as nuclear deal falls apart

WASHINGTON — US Vice President Mike Pence says the US will keep up pressure on Iran, as the nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic and world powers appears to be crumbling.

Pence says in a speech today to a pro-Israel Christian organization in Washington that the US will “never allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.”

In his prepared remarks, the vice president planned to say that the US was willing to talk with Iran but “America will not back down” — but did not say it in his delivered remarks.

He did say that Iran should not “confuse American restraint with a lack of American resolve.”

Pence notes that Iran said it has begun enriching uranium beyond limits set by 2015 nuclear agreement.

He says it was part of the Islamic Republic’s “malign” activities that included recent attacks on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf region.

— AP