Pompeo says confident US can develop common approach with Europeans on Iran 

WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday the changes Washington has demanded that Iran make are not difficult to implement and he is confident a common diplomatic approach can be developed with European countries.

"I'm confident that there is a set of overlapping values and interests here that will drive us to the same conclusion about the need to respond to the Islamic Republic of Iran's threats to the world," Pompeo told reporters at the State Department.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called US Secretary of State's comments about Iran "untrue" and based on "old illusions" on Wednesday and said Washington had become a hostage to pressure groups.

Two days earlier, Pompeo had said Washington would impose sanctions on Iran if it did not curb its regional and military influence and accused Tehran of supporting armed groups in countries such as Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.

Zarif said Pompeo had repeated old allegations against Tehran "only with a stronger and more indecent tone".

"Pompeo and other US officials are trapped in old illusions ... They are taken hostage by corrupt pressure groups," Zarif said in a live interview on state television.