Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has criticized the Biden administration for resuming nuclear talks with Iran, fearing it could lead to reduced sanctions and concessions – but few substantial changes in the country’s nuclear policy.
“Ayatollah only understands power. I led a response to the Iranian threat that protected the American people from terror and supported the Jewish state of Israel, “Pompeo told the Washington Free Beacon on Thursday. “Adopting the European Union’s accommodation model will guarantee Iran a path to a nuclear arsenal.”
Pompeo’s remarks came on the same day the State Department said it would welcome an invitation to re-establish diplomacy with Iran.
In 2018, the Trump administration dropped the deal three years after it was brokered by the Obama administration with Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union. The agreement reduced sanctions against Iran in exchange for a reduction in the depleted uranium deposit needed to supply nuclear weapons.
Since withdrawing from the US, Iran has acknowledged that it has violated the 2015 agreement by using advanced centrifuges that enrich uranium in an underground factory.
Pompeo credited the Trump administration’s steadfastness, saying that European nations “wanted to calm the Iranian theocracy for my entire time as secretary of state.”
“I refused,” he said.
Earlier this week, Pompeo said America must show power when it comes to relations with Iran.
“When the Iranians feel weak, they will attack,” Pompeo told Fox News @ Night. “What I did was that when they came after an American, I made this very clear: if they attacked an American by a force in Iraq, if they attacked an American through Hezbollah in Syria, wherever he was, wherever Iran was responsible, we were going to hold the Iranians accountable. This is the kind of force that built the model of discouragement that we had on Iran. I hope that this current administration will not give up on this. ”