"We have every intent of driving Iranian oil exports to zero just as quickly as we can," Pompeo said on Tuesday evening.

Pompeo explained that the United States will continue to impose sanctions against Iran until Tehran stops what the US secretary of state called was malign behavior in Europe and the Middle East.

The United States is using its energy to promote prosperity among other countries while other nations use their energy resources for malign activity, Pompeo said.

Pompeo also highlighted what he characterized was China's illegal island building in the South China Sea, blocking ASEAN countries from accessing more than 2.5 trillion recoverable resources.

In addition, Pompeo said the United States does not want its European allies to rely on Russian gas through the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. He claimed Russia used its pipelines to put political pressure on the Ukraine.