Pompeo: Trump admin willing to talk to Iran 'with no preconditions' as tensions hit boiling point

President Trump welcomes Japanese Prime Minister Abe's offer to mediate talk with Iran; reaction and analysis from Behnam Ben Taleblu, research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.Just weeks after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a renewed "pressure campaign" targeting Iran's energy sector, America's top diplomat said Sunday the Trump administration is willing to talk with Iran "with no preconditions" -- but he added that debilitating sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy will remain in effect.The U.S. is "prepared to engage in a conversation with no preconditions; we're ready to sit down" with Iran's leaders, Pompeo said at a press conference. President Trump fired a social media broadside at the Iranian regime in May, vowing that war between Washington and Tehran would result in "the official end of Iran" before warning, "[n]ever threaten the United States again!"Also in May, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued an extraordinary public rebuke of President Hasan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, slamming their implementation of the country's 2015 international nuclear accord and suggesting the rising influence of hardliners in the regime. The sanctions had been suspended under former President Barack Obama's 2015 nuclear deal, pummelling the value of currency there and threatening to further unravel the Islamic country's already-struggling economy.Officials say newly declassified intelligence, shared exclusively with Fox News, shows Iran-backed militias across the Middle East are strapped for cash; State Department correspondent Rich Edson reports.Trump pulled the U.S. out of the nuclear deal in May 2018, saying its enforcement and monitoring mechanisms were too lenient and calling for Iran to return to the negotiating table.