In a widely anticipated appearance at the Heritage Foundation Monday – his first major address since assuming the Secretary of State mantle – Mike Pompeo laid out his vision of how United States-Iranian relations would be conducted from now on. It’s going to take some getting used to for the Iranians.

After all the pallets of cash, this had to come as something of a rude shock.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Monday demanded that Iran make wholesale changes in its military and regional policies or face “the strongest sanctions in history,” as it sought to turn up heat on Tehran after President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from a landmark nuclear deal.

…“These will end up being the strongest sanctions in history by the time we are complete,” Pompeo said at the conservative Heritage Foundation in his first major policy speech since taking over as top diplomat.

Pompeo vowed Trump’s approach would ensure Iran would never develop a nuclear weapon. A new pact should require that Iran stop enrichment of uranium, which was allowed within strict limitations under the previous deal. Iran would also have to walk away from core pillars of its foreign policy, including its involvement in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Afghanistan, he said.

“This list may seem long to some, but it is simply a reflection of the massive scope of Iranian malign behavior,” Pompeo said. “America did not create this need for changed behavior. Iran did.”

Iran immediately switched to “surely you jest” responses, noting that Pompeo was no friend of theirs (…thank GOD)

In response, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani described Pompeo’s speech as unacceptable and took issue with the fact that the secretary of state previously led the CIA, long demonized in Iran for its role in a 1953 coup.

“A guy who had been active in an espionage center for years now wants to make a decision for Iran and other countries from the position of a foreign minister. It is not acceptable under any circumstance,” Rouhani said to a group of university teachers in Tehran. “Who are you to make a decision for Iran and the world and to tell Iran what to do and what not to do in the nuclear field?”

…but the mullahs are surely reeling from the one-two punch of Trump’s deep-sixing their sweetheart deal, and then Pompeo laying on the switch this afternoon. It has been DECADES since anyone jerked them up by the beards on their chinny chin chins, and a few of those short hairs had to hurt with the yank today.

This time, however, it appears all the administration departments are singing from the same sheet of “Spank Iran” music.

Pompeo promised to work closely with the Pentagon on Iranian aggression.

When asked what that might look like Monday, a Pentagon spokesman hinted at a more aggressive posture.

“We are going to take steps necessary to address Iran’s malign influence in the region,” Defense Department spokesman Rob Manning told reporters at the Pentagon.

“They are a destabilizing force in the region … and we’re going to do everything we can to avert that,” Manning added. “This is a whole of government solution that we’re working in order to change Iran’s influence in the region and we’re continuing to do that.”

Bend Over and Bow, the Sequel, this is not. (Excuse me as I repress a smirk.) Let’s visit the onerous, repressive, saber-rattling requirements laid upon Iran in Pompeo’s speech today. Just see how truly unreasonable the U.S. is being. Ah! Here they are:

— Give the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) a full account of the prior military dimensions of its nuclear program.

— Stop enrichment and never pursue plutonium reprocessing, including closing its heavy water reactor.

— Provide the IAEA with unqualified access to all sites throughout the entire country.

— End ballistic missile proliferation and halt development of nuclear-capable missile systems.

— Release all U.S. citizens, as well as citizens of partners and allies.

— End support to terrorist groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

— Respect the sovereignty of the Iraqi government, including by permitting the disarming, demobilization and reintegration of Shia militias.

— End support for the Houthi rebels in Yemen and work towards a peaceful political settlement in that country.

— Withdraw all forces under Iranian command throughout the entirety of Syria.

— End support for the Taliban and other terrorists in Afghanistan.

— End the Quds Force’s support for terrorists and militant partners around the world.

— Stop threatening behavior against its neighbors, including Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

I don’t know about YOU, but this sounds like a textbook “good Global citizen” checklist to me. Everyone and their mother knows the biggest sticker is going to be Number 3 – UNQUALIFIED ACCESS for the IAEA. They’ve never had anything remotely like that, and the Iranians play shifting sands so well, it’s been a farcical shell game from the beginning, as the recent Israeli haul of documents proved. (And, really, to no one but Ben Rhodes’ surprise.)

Pompeo noted these sticks are not without carrots. The U.S. fully intends to make life a LOT easier for Iran and, more importantly, Iranians, if they just do all the “stop/end/withdrawing” listed above.

Pompeo did offer Iran a series of dramatic potential U.S. concessions if it agrees to make “major changes.” Under a new agreement, the U.S. would be willing to lift all sanctions, restore full diplomatic and commercial ties with Iran and even support the modernization of its economy, Pompeo said.

“It is America’s hope that our labors toward peace and security will bear fruit for the long-suffering people of Iran,” Pompeo said.

Which is another nightmare scenario for the mullahs, because the LAST thing they want is more Western influences in the country. They’ve barely got their people contained now. Had the feckless, gutless, turncoat Obama administration offered the Iranian people any support or encouragement at all during the Green Revolution, we might not even be having this conversation and the ruling Iranians clerics know it well.

Europe/E.U. is hemming and hawing, thanks to their dirty little fingers being knuckle-deep in all sorts of business with the Iranians, and the paramters set by the SecState in his speech had to cause a few cases of the willies. No one, but NO ONE will be winking and nodding at their cheating on sanctions anymore:

European allies heard how he expects their support for the new US plan — but he offered nothing in return, and threatened economic fallout for anyone still dealing with the Islamic Republic.

“We understand that our re-imposition of sanctions and the coming pressure campaign on the Iranian regime will pose financial and economic difficulties for a number of our friends,” he said.

“We want to hear their concerns. But you know, we will hold those doing prohibited business in Iran to account.”

The re-establishment of the US sanctions will force European companies to choose between investing in Iran or trading with the United States.

In reality, there is no choice — European companies cannot afford to forsake the US market.

I think I heard a collective “GULP” from Brussels. However woozy the financially motivated Europeans might be feeling about the tough talk/tough action, neighbors in the Iranian sphere think the Pompeo hit it just right. They are tired, tired, TIRED of the Iranian schtick.

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates, Anwar Gargash, said on Monday U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was taking the right approach on Iran.

“Uniting (our) efforts is the correct path for Iran to realize the futility of its incursions and expansionism,” Gargash wrote on his official Twitter account, several hours after a policy speech on Iran by Pompeo.

Democratic Change in #Iran is the only solution; it is within reach. @SecPompeo took a major step. #JCPOA#IRGC_Out #IranNuclearDeal

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) May 21, 2018

And it is always helpful to remind people this “nuclear deal” was just that – a deal between the Obama bow boys and the hard line Islamic leaders they so often seemed enthralled with.  NOT a “treaty” with the full and binding force of the United States behind it. Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue politely ‘splained the same in a letter to Iran’s leaders in 2015: 

Iran hasn’t found themselves isolated and without allies or resources in literally decades. A public rift even opened between Moscow and Tehran today when Putin called for all foreign forces to “eventually” leave Syria. Iran took exception to that and ripped the Russians with a vociferous “You’re not the boss of me!”

“No one can force Iran to do anything, Iran is an independent country that determines its own policies,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi told reporters at a daily press conference Monday.

“The presence of Iran is at the invitation of the Syrian government to fight against terrorism and defend the territorial integrity of Syria, and will last as long as the Syrian government wants Iran to help it,” he added. “Those who have entered the country without the consent of the Syrian government must leave Syria.”

You might not have noticed yet, but y’all are fast running out of friends, Bahram. I am delighted the United States was the first to step off the bus.