Pompeo Urges U.S. to Keep Pursuing Victory Over Iran Despite Election Cost

Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged the United States to continue pursuing victory over Iran in a November 10 statement, despite what he described as the war’s economic and electoral costs. He said the conflict had affected prices and that Republicans had paid a price in the previous week’s elections. Pompeo, who also served as CIA director before becoming secretary of state in April 2018, argued that Americans still opposed Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon or continuing to threaten them. “That’s why we need to keep at it & win,” he wrote. His remarks followed President Donald Trump’s November 9 account of a discussion about Iran with Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani. Trump said Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and other countries favored maintaining the existing situation. He described that arrangement as a continuing naval blockade alongside Operation Iron Gate, covering land and sea. Trump said those countries agreed that Iran must never obtain a nuclear weapon. He also said the United States remained ready to act if circumstances in the Middle East changed, although he considered that unlikely at the time. In the same statement, he described Israel and the wider region as protected from Iranian danger.