Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized the approach adopted by the Biden administration to deal with Iran, saying it sends wrong messages to the Iranians and their allies.
In an interview with the Saudi-based Arab News, Pompeo said that “the Iranian leadership understands how to drive a truck through American weakness,” stressing that deterring the regime will require “a consistent, sound message” and “a willingness to impose a cost.”
He also said he was against the Biden administration’s decision to lift the Yemeni Houthi militia’s terrorist designation, pointing out that “no one disputes that the Houthis are terrorists and no one disputes that the Iranians are underwriting them.”
Pompeo also said he understands some concerns about the humanitarian challenges inside of Yemen.
"Indeed, the Trump administration spent a great deal of American taxpayers’ money — and we convinced the Saudis and the Emiratis to do the same — to make sure that ordinary people in Yemen didn’t suffer famine."
Describing Saudi Arabia as “an important security partner” for the US, Pompeo said: “For an awfully long time, I think we neglected this (fact). When we get this right, we can put fewer of our young men and women, American young men and women, overseas in the Middle East facing risk, and we can support them.”
Elaborating on how this could be achieved, he said: “It always begins with a commitment, a diplomatic commitment, a commitment from the president of the United States, that says we understand that you in Saudi Arabia have the right to defend yourself when there are missiles being launched into your country."
"To deny them the capacity to defend themselves is just crazy, and yet that appears to be the direction this administration is taking," Pompeo said, according to Arab News.
Pompeo also rejected the common critique that the Trump administration ignored human rights in the process.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said.
“We supported the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as it began to open up inside, to allow women to be more active and to do many things which had been prohibited for an awfully long time. And real progress was made.”
He further reiterated that having a “deep security relationship with the Kingdom is central to American security and also to security throughout the Middle East.”
More on Iran, Pompeo affirmed that there is no reason to second-guess the Iranian regime’s mindset.
“They’ve made it very clear they are prepared to do things all around the world, with what they see as securing their rights around the world,” he told Arab News.
“So, I talked about this when I was secretary of state a great deal, (about) their efforts to conduct assassination campaigns all across Europe.
“It always befuddled me to watch the E3 (Germany, France, the UK) continue to cozy up to the Iranians and the JCPOA deal to say ‘No, this is the right direction,’ when in fact the Iranians were trying to kill people inside each of their countries.
“We certainly see that here in the United States too. We shouldn’t forget it wasn’t all that long ago that the Iranians had a plot to kill the Saudi ambassador right here, not very far from where I’m sitting here today in Washington D.C.
In final remarks, Pompeo stressed that the US can't relief sanctions before Iran releases all the American prisoners, "until Iran comes to understand that it is unacceptable to engage in this kind of behavior."
"To reward that, to reward them with financial resources, only gives them an incentive to continue to do this and provides them with the capital to continue these programs.”
