Goal: Shore up Mideast support

Pompeo to visit eight countries to discuss regional tensions

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hopes his trip to the Middle East can shore up support from America’s partners amid increasing tensions in the region.

In his first Mideast visit since President Donald Trump’s recent announcement that he intends to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria, Pompeo will stop in eight countries, starting with Jordan on Wednesday, the State Department said.

The Syria decision, which led to the resignations of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and the U.S. special envoy for the anti-Islamic State coalition, Brett McGurk, is expected to dominate the officials’ agenda, along with the Trump administration’s hard line on Iran, the conflict in Yemen and the situation in Iraq.

The State Department announced Friday that veteran diplomat Jim Jeffrey, who has been serving since August as the special representative for Syrian engagement, would assume McGurk’s anti-Islamic State duties.

A State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity to preview Pompeo’s trip, said the secretary’s aim was to counter “false narratives” that the U.S. is abandoning the Middle East and to make the point that Iran continues to be a threat.

“We are not going anywhere,” the official said.

In addition to Jordan, Pompeo plans stops in Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait. The U.S. hopes each country will play a significant role in a planned regional strategic partnership being called an “Arab NATO.”

Pompeo told Newsmax on Thursday that “ensuring that the Turks don’t slaughter the Kurds” was part “of the American mission set,” a comment that Turkey said showed a lack of information about the situation.

After a brief stop in Amman, Pompeo will fly to Cairo for counterterrorism and energy cooperation talks with Egyptian officials and to give a speech on the U.S. “commitment to peace, prosperity, stability, and security in the Middle East,” the State Department said. The speech is expected to be a counterpoint to an address that President Barack Obama delivered in Cairo in 2009 in which he sought to reach out to the Muslim world.

From Cairo, Pompeo heads to Manama, Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, to continue discussions on the Middle East Strategic Alliance that is aimed at confronting Iran’s increasing assertiveness in the Persian Gulf.

Pompeo will then visit Abu Dhabi, where he will push for all parties to the conflict in Yemen to follow through on de-escalation agreements they reached at U.N.-brokered peace talks in Sweden last month.

Mike Pompeo