Secretary of State Mike Pompeo headed to the Middle East with the aim of building a global coalition against Iran, following a week of crisis that brought the United States on the brink of a military strike on Iran.
Pompeo headed Saudi Arabia, followed by the United Arab Emirates, Sunni Arab allies that are alarmed by Iran’s increasing assertiveness and are working to limit its influence in the region.
Pompeo’s visits in Jeddah and Abu Dhabi were hastily arranged late last week as additions to a trip to India from where he will join President Donald Trump in Japan and South Korea. But they were not announced until immediately before his departure in a sign of fast-moving and unpredictable developments.
President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in the meantime said that the U.S. is prepared to negotiate with Iran, without preconditions, in a bid to ease tensions. Those tensions have been mounting since Trump last year withdrew the U.S. from a global nuclear deal with Iran and began pressuring Tehran with economic sanctions. A fresh round of Iran sanctions is to be announced Monday in a bid to force the Iranian leadership into talks.
Over the weekend Trump said that he could become Iran’s “best friend” if Tehran ultimately agrees to abandon its drive to build nuclear weapons and he helps the country turn around its crippled economy.
Then Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, gave a blunt warning from Jerusalem, where he was traveling. Bolton said Iran should not “mistake U.S. prudence and discretion for weakness” after Trump called off the military strike. Trump said he backed away from the planned strikes after learning that about 150 people would be killed, but he said the military option remained.
A longtime Iran hawk, Bolton emphasized that the U.S. reserved the right to attack at a later point.
Via The Washington Post
