The United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday threatened to impose the “strongest sanctions in history” against Iran if it did not accept America’s demands, reported Reuters. The demands include curtailing Iran’s ballistic missile programme and ending its “expansionist behaviour”.

Pompeo’s announcement comes just two weeks after US President Donald Trump pulled out of a nuclear agreement with Iran signed in 2015 during Barack Obama’s tenure. The nuclear deal, signed by the five permanent members of the United Nations, Germany, the European Union and Iran, had lifted decades-old sanctions on Tehran on the promise that it would tone down its nuclear programme considerably.

“The sting of sanctions will be painful if the regime does not change its course from the unacceptable and unproductive path it has chosen to one that rejoins the league of nations,” he said, according to Al Jazeera. He said the US will apply “unprecedented financial pressure on the Iranian regime”.

Pompeo said the Trump administration will not try to renegotiate the old Iran nuclear deal. He outlined 12 requirements for a new deal, reported The Wall Street Journal. Among the demands laid down by Pompeo, Iran must withdraw all of its forces from Syria, end its support for militant groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon, stop sending arms to the Houthi militia in Yemen, and cease its threats to destroy Israel.

“Relief from sanctions will come only when we see tangible, demonstrated, and sustained shifts in Tehran’s policies,” said Pompeo.