UPDATE 1-Pompeo: Trump "will continue to ratchet up pressure" on Iran

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump will continue to increase pressure on Iran, but declined further comment on the possibility of waivers for countries that import Iranian oil.

Pompeo told a U.S. Senate committee that he had "no announcements" on waivers, particularly in an unclassified setting. "I can assure the rest of the world that President Trump will continue to ratchet up the pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran so that their behavior will change," Pompeo said.

Trump said on Monday he would name Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization, in an unprecedented step that drew Iranian condemnation and raised concerns about retaliatory attacks on U.S. forces. The action by Trump, who has taken a hard line toward Iran by withdrawing from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and re-imposing broad economic sanctions, marked the first time the United States has formally labeled another nation's military a terrorist group. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)