In discussion with Free Beacon on Friday, Mike Pompeo pulled the curtain back on the Trump administration's years-long effort to combat Iran militarily and diplomatically.
He outlined the next steps the administration will be taking to eradicate Tehran's growing influence in key Arab nations, including Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon.
In the coming months, Pompeo said, he and the president will make a major decision about whether to petition the UN to invoke what is known as "snapback" on a set of international sanctions on Iran that were lifted as part of the Iran nuclear deal. Iran hawks in Congress have been pressing Pompeo and the administration to pursue this course of action for months, a message the secretary says he has received and is digging into. Such a move would deal a deathblow to the nuclear deal, according to the report.
While the US president has yet to make an ultimate decision on snapback at the UN, the administration has already begun to lay the groundwork for this course of action. An internal legal opinion recently issued by the State Department made the case that snapback is now warranted.
The European nations, however, say they will remain committed to the nuclear deal. "They believe fundamentally that staying in that deal is in the best interest of their nations," Pompeo said.
He also talked about US attempts to cement ties with regional Arab countries against Iran.
MNA/PR
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