Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that anyone who thinks the nuclear deal with Iran “was good for the United States” is living in “fantasy.”
Asked to respond to accusations from his predecessor, John Kerry, that the American action against Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani destabilized the region and further buried the nuclear deal with Iran, Pompeo told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, “It’s a fantasy to think that the nuclear deal was good for the United States of America protecting the American people.”
Kerry has called the nuclear deal “the strongest, most intrusive” agreement.
On Thursday night, Pompeo insisted the Iran nuclear deal did little to deter Iran from maintaining an aggressive posture that threatened regional stability.
“There were terror campaigns, missile systems enhanced and improved. The money that the Iranian regime was permitted to have underwrote the very Shia militias … that ultimately killed an American,” he said, adding that Trump administration policy is “not about undoing what [President Barack] Obama did, this is about protecting and defending the American people and President Trump has been resolute in that.” (RELATED: Iraq Votes To Expel US Troops As Soleimani Mourners Crowd Tehran Streets)
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Although Pompeo noted that the order to eliminate Soleimani “was ultimately [Trump’s] decision,” the secretary said he takes “responsibility for what the State Department does and the recommendations we make to the president of the United States.”
Pompeo told Fox: “We made the right decision. The president made the right call,” before adding, “We’re not through this yet. There are still many challenges in this case.”
A U.S. drone missile killed Soleimani following an assault and temporary occupation of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad by a pro-Iranian Iraqi militia force. A top U.S. official said Soleimani, as leader of the terrorist Quds force, was planning further attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq. (RELATED: Pentagon Says Trump Ordered Strike That Killed Top Iranian General At Baghdad Airport)