US Secretary of State Pompeo slams Iran during UAE visit

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said the US will show Iran its actions have "a real high cost", while on a visit to the UAE.

Speaking to Sky News Arabia, Pompeo said on Tuesday that a focus remains on denying "Iran the financial capacity to continue this bad behaviour".

Pompeo said that included a "series of sanctions aimed not at the Iranian people, but rather aimed at the single mission of convincing the Iranian regime that its malign behaviour is unacceptable".

Pompeo met Abu Dhabi's powerful Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan - effectively the UAE's leader - while on his short trip to the Gulf state.

The US under President Donald Trump has taken a much-harder line on Tehran, including pulling out of the nuclear deal with world powers.

Pompeo unleashed a diatribe against Iran in May during his first major foreign policy address since taking office, calling for "unprecedented financial pressure" on Iran with the "strongest sanctions in history".

Pompeo also outlined 12 demands of the Iranian government in order for the US to end sanctions and restore diplomatic and commercial relations.

These included ending support for Yemen's Houthi rebels and Lebanese Hizballah, withdrawing Iranian-backed troops in Syria, the disarmament of Iran-backed militias in Iraq, release US citizens detained in Iran on "spurious charges", end uranium enrichment, and halt its ballistic missile programme.