Pompeo departs on week-long trip to Middle East, Japan, Korea, India

“It’s very important as the days proceed and as our efforts, our diplomatic efforts to change the nature of what the Iranian regime is doing go on, it is very likely that Iran will continue to present things that are fanciful, that are fraudulent, that are false,” said Pompeo before departing from Joint Base Andrews, addressing the recent downing of an American drone by Iran. “We need to make sure that every news outlet, everyone who is observing this, understands what’s true and what the Iranian regime wants you to believe. That’s truly important.”

Pompeo added that additional sanctions would take affect on Monday. “The world should know that we will continue to make sure it’s understood that this effort that we’ve engaged in to deny Iran the resources to foment terror, to build out their nuclear weapons system, to build out their missile program, we are going to deny them the resources they need to do that thereby keeping American interests and American people safe all around the world.”

When asked what would happen if Iran carried out another attack like the downing of an American drone last week, Pompeo responded that he would not address hypotheticals.

“The world understands who the aggressor is here.  They understand that it’s the Islamic Republic of Iran that now has for four decades conducted assassination campaigns in Europe, conducted terrorist activity, has attempted to influence now more than four capitals throughout the Middle East,” said the Secretary of State. “The Iranian nation has been a series of bad actors. Their leadership has taken them in a direction that their people surely do not want.  So how we will respond to any particular act that the Islamic Republic of Iran takes, the President will decide when we get there.”

While in Saudi Arabia, Pompeo will meet with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud to discuss Iranian influence in the region.

In the UAE, he will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to discuss tensions in the area.

In India, the Secretary of State will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar to discuss a strategic partnership between the two nations.

Pompeo will take part in the G-20 Leaders’ Summit in Osaka, Japan and will join with President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss the final denuclearization of North Korea.

Afterwards, he will will travel with President Trump to the Republic of Korea to meet with President Moon Jae-in to discuss the alliance between the US and the Republic of Korea and the final denuclearization of North Korea.