Former US envoy Pompeo calls Iran nuclear deal a ‘monstrosity’

Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed the Iran nuclear deal from 201, calling it a “monstrosity” during an interview with i24NEWS on Wednesday evening.

The former US senior official also touted his record for the progress the White House made in the Middle East, especially the signing of the historic Abrahamic Accords that normalized ties between Israel and 4 Arabs states, and hoped his successor will continue the work his team started.

“We were working in countries all across the Middle East, we were working with countries in Africa, we were working with Islamic countries in Asia… to help Israel to help those countries to bridge any gaps they had and make the case why the right thing to do was to join the Abraham Accords” so that they recognize Israel as a key economic and security partner, Pompeo said during the interview.

“And I am very confident that the direction of travel is right, that these accords were indeed historic… and I hope the American administration that is now in power will continue to put forth a series of policies from the US that won’t be an impediment to these countries connecting with Israel.”

Pompeo, however, repudiated the Biden administration for its vision of the Middle East, specifically in regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the conventional diplomatic approach that has failed to deliver a peace agreement for decades.

“We both share the same objectives, but they fundamentally go at it in a different hypothesis” Pompeo began.

The Biden administration’s “hypothesis” is that “somehow that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is a veto, and until that is resolved that nothing can happen. We proved that wrong,” the former top US diplomat continued.

“We’re happy to work to make the lives of the Palestinian people better… but we’re not going to allow the Palestinian Authority to continue to conduct its terror campaign, to continue to undermine any hopes for peace, because frankly, they say no to everything.”

Switching to Iran, Pompeo warned against resuming negotiations with the Islamic Republic, calling the country a threat to stability in the region while slamming the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) a “monstrosity.”

“We isolated the Iranian regime like no country ever had,” he said. “We built out an enormous coalition of countries that understood Iran as the central threat to stability and peace in the Middle East.”

Pompeo said it was “unfortunate” that the E3, referring to the UK, France, and Germany, “were so deeply wedded to this thing, this monstrosity called the JCPOA,” which he claimed created a “clear path” for Iran to strengthen its domestic nuclear program.

 i24NEWS contributed to this report.