Iran nuclear deal in cross-hairs as top US diplomat begins Middle East tour in Riyadh
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Saudi Arabia yesterday on the first stop of a visit to the Middle East to speak with key allies and inform them of President Donald Trump’s plan for the Iran nuclear deal.
Mr Pompeo was sworn in as secretary of state just two days ago and departed two hours later to attend Nato talks in Brussels.
The former CIA director is regarded as having anti-Iran views and is hawkish about projecting US military power. Given that Mr Trump has called the nuclear agreement the “worst deal ever”, it seems likely the US will withdraw from the deal.
Mr Pompeo will probably find a receptive audience in Saudi Arabia, where he was met on the tarmac in Riyadh by a sizeable Saudi Arabian delegation, including Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir and US ambassador Khalid bin Salman – brother of the powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
In March, Mr Trump threatened to reimpose sanctions against Iran unless European allies Britain, France and Germany agreed to amend the nuclear accord.
But Russia, China, Germany, Britain and France – which forged the agreement with Iran and the US – maintain that the deal is the best way to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.
Speaking after a Nato meeting of foreign ministers on Friday, Mr Pompeo said Mr Trump had not made a decision on whether to abandon the deal but was not likely to stick to it without substantial changes.
“There’s been no decision, so the team is working and I am sure we will have lots of conversations to deliver what the president has made clear,” Mr Pompeo said.
Another subject of the talks is likely to be the US’s future role in fighting ISIS in Syria.
President Trump has called upon Saudi and other Arabian Gulf countries to provide funding and troops to replace US soldiers stationed in areas once controlled by ISIS in Syria.
This trip is not Mr Pompeo’s first to the kingdom. He was one of the first Trump administration officials to visit Saudi Arabia early in his tenure as CIA director.
On this visit he is expected to meet Crown Prince Mohammed and King Salman. His Riyadh visit will be followed by stops in Jerusalem and Amman.
Mr Pompeo has a second, more personal mission – to show foreign capitals and his own colleagues that US diplomacy is back on track after the troubled reign of his sacked predecessor Rex Tillerson.
During Mr Pompeo’s short confirmation critics said he was an unsuitable champion of American ideals abroad.
But there is optimism among the officials around Mr Pompeo on the trip that US diplomacy at last has a chief who can speak for the president and will focus on the department’s core missions.
He has taken on the role of peace maker recently, having made a secret visit to North Korea to meet its leader, Kim Jong-un, and lay the groundwork for a historic planned summit with Mr Trump.