Pompeo says Iran ‘behaving worse’ since ’15 nuclear deal

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in the Middle East on his first international trip since being confirmed by the Senate last week, accused Iran of “behaving worse” since signing the 2015 nuclear deal President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to tear up.

Pompeo hammered away with the administration’s recurring theme: Iran destabilizes the Middle East by supporting terrorist groups, ruthless Houthi rebels in Yemen and the brutal regime of President Bashar Assad in Syria.

“We remain deeply concerned about Iran’s dangerous escalation of threats to Israel and the region – and Iran’s ambition to dominate the Middle East,” Pompeo said after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv. “The United States is with Israel in this fight.”

Israel has never supported the deal between Iran and the West that eased sanctions against the Shiite nation in return for Iran’s pledge to halt nuclear weapon development. Trump has said he will decide in the next two weeks whether the U.S. will pull out of the deal.

Pompeo dismissed concerns that blowing up the Iran nuclear deal might complicate talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. He said Kim wants a deal with “concrete, irreversible actions” that assure him that change will be lasting.

“I don’t think Kim Jong Un is staring at the Iran deal and saying, ‘Oh goodness, if they get out of that deal, I won’t talk to the Americans anymore,’ ” Pompeo said. “There are higher priorities that he is more concerned about.”

Pompeo’s visit also came two weeks before the U.S. is scheduled to move its embassy in Israel out of Tel Aviv and into Jerusalem, a controversial decision that has outraged Palestinian leaders.

Pompeo’s trip began last week in Brussels, where he warned NATO foreign ministers that the U.S. was ready to implode the Iran deal if it isn’t strengthened “significantly.”