MNA – The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claims that Trump administration's policy toward Iran has been fruitful and has led to the creation of a coalition to put pressure on the country to end its missile program.

In an interview with NPR, Pompeo defended the US President's "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran, claiming that it is "absolutely working."

"This is a regime that has been working to develop its nuclear program for years and years and years. And the nuclear deal guaranteed them a pathway to having a nuclear program," Pompeo claimed in reference to the international agreement signed by Iran, the US, the United Kingdom, China, France, Germany, Russia and the European Union in 2015.

"It was a certainty. It might have been delayed for a month or a year or five or 10 years, but it guaranteed them that pathway. This administration has pulled the Band-Aid off,” he added.

He declined, however, to detail specifics of the administration's policy for preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear technology, saying only, "We'll stop them."

He said that the US administration has built a coalition that's working to put pressure on Iran to end its missile program, its processing of uranium and the reprocessing of plutonium.

He also claimed that the US has also raised the cost for Iran's use of force through proxy groups in the Middle East.