| You are subscribed to Collected Releases for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. 12/31/2019 08:45 PM EST Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State QUESTION: Also today, North Korea's Kim Jong-un issued a new warning to the United States. We spoke about that and the developments in Iraq with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a broadcast network exclusive. What is the situation at the embassy right now? SECRETARY POMPEO: So the embassy is being monitored. It's safe. The actions that we took today were prudent. Under President Trump's direction, our team worked together today to quickly, decisively, prudently take the appropriate responses to keep our American people safe. QUESTION: How close were we to either evacuating any part of the embassy or repelling the protesters or militants by force? SECRETARY POMPEO: So we never contemplated evacuating the facility today. But the American people should know that President Trump and our team are working diligently to make sure that we keep this facility secure. QUESTION: To what degree were we caught off guard? SECRETARY POMPEO: We've known for a long time that there was this risk. It's been 40 years that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been at this, and we've watched them continue to take actions. We saw them take actions that killed an American in Iraq just this past week. We saw the United States act decisively to respond to that in a way to signal to them that we would do precisely what I've said, precisely what President Trump said we would do, when American interests and American lives were at stake. QUESTION: To what degree did the Iraqi Government let us down, letting them get as close as they got to the compound of the embassy? SECRETARY POMPEO: So early this morning, I made clear when I spoke with the Iraqi leadership that the Iraqis have the responsibility to keep our facilities safe. QUESTION: Did they live up to that? SECRETARY POMPEO: They have responded. They brought counterterrorism forces to bear. We reminded them throughout the day of their continued responsibility, and we told them where we thought there was risk that things weren't happening the way we needed it to happen. And so we'll make sure they continue to live up to their obligation to help keep our facilities safe. QUESTION: Does that mean we will not see a repeat of this tomorrow or the next day or the next day? SECRETARY POMPEO: It's a serious situation. We're watching. We'll make sure that we're doing all the things that we need to do, and we'll continue to ask the Iraqi Government to do the things that they have a responsibility to do. QUESTION: Should the American people contemplate being on a war footing in 2020 where Iran is concerned? SECRETARY POMPEO: This is state-sponsored terror. This is Iranian-backed terrorism that took place that threatened American interests. We've taken a fundamentally different approach. We have starved them of resources, we have denied them access, we have put pressure on the Iranian leadership, and I think you see that. QUESTION: Let me move you to North Korea, because just before you came in, Mr. Secretary, a couple of things were announced by the state media in North Korea. One, that, according to Kim Jong-un on the state media, the world will, quote, "witness a new strategic weapon to be possessed by the DPRK," meaning North Korea, in the near future, and that North Korea is ending its moratorium on nuclear and ballistic missile testing. Have you ever been more concerned about the future of U.S.-North Korean relations than you are right now? SECRETARY POMPEO: I was more concerned about it when this administration took office. We were in a place where it was very likely that we would have ended up in a war with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea. President Trump has taken an approach where we've tried to develop a diplomatic pathway. We hope that the North Koreans will reconsider, that they'll continue down that pathway. It's important. It's the right solution. We want peace, not confrontation. QUESTION: These two announcements do not alarm you? SECRETARY POMPEO: I'm concerned about a lot of things every day, Major. QUESTION: Right. But I mean — SECRETARY POMPEO: I'll be honest. I saw this — QUESTION: — does it strike you as a turnaway from where you were, where the U.S. and North Korea were? SECRETARY POMPEO: If Chairman Kim has reneged on the commitments he made to President Trump, that is deeply disappointing. I was there when Chairman Kim made the commitment that said he would not engage in intercontinental missiles or test-firing of their nuclear weapons, testing their nuclear weapons systems. He made those commitments to President Trump in exchange for President Trump agreeing not to conduct large-scale military exercises. We've lived up to our commitments. We continue to hold out hope that he'll live up to his as well. QUESTION: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, thank you so much for your time. SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you very much, Major. QUESTION: Good to see you. SECRETARY POMPEO: Good to see you as well, sir.
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Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Secretary Michael R. Pompeo With Major Garrett of CBS Evening News
Secretary Michael R. Pompeo With Mike Emanuel of Fox News Special Report
| You are subscribed to Collected Releases for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. 12/31/2019 08:21 PM EST Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State
QUESTION: Let's get the latest from America's top diplomat. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joins us tonight. Good evening, Mr. Secretary. SECRETARY POMPEO: Good evening, Mike. Good to be with you. QUESTION: The images are striking. What is your assessment of what we saw in Baghdad today? SECRETARY POMPEO: Well, what you saw was Iranian-backed terrorists – many of them are individuals that have been designated terrorists by the United States and others – come into the American embassy and posing a risk to American diplomats and personnel inside the embassy. You saw President Trump direct a quick, decisive, prudent response by making sure that we had all the resources necessary to keep our people safe and to secure the compound as well. And as we go into the evening tonight, we're continuing to watch, we're continuing to monitor. As you know, Mike, this is a difficult place, tough terrain, and so we continue to take the situation seriously and President Trump and our entire team are watching it closely. QUESTION: Any plans to evacuate the embassy in Baghdad, sir? SECRETARY POMPEO: None. QUESTION: Okay. Any plans to pull some of the 5,000 U.S. troops in Iraq out? SECRETARY POMPEO: None. QUESTION: Okay. We are reporting that up to 4,000 more troops – 82nd Airborne – could be going into the region to bolster American forces in the region. Is that accurate, sir? SECRETARY POMPEO: Mike, you have to put this in a larger context. This is 40 years of the Islamic Republic of Iran engaged in global terror campaigns, a nuclear weapons dreams, and nuclear enrichment capability existing today. We came in when the previous administration had provided lots of money; lots of money that was used for that nuclear program; lots of money that has been used for terror all around the world, to develop their missile program. The Trump administration has taken a very different view. We've put real pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran. We will continue to do so. And as you saw the President say today, we will continue to hold the Islamic Republic of Iran accountable wherever we find their malign activity, and we'll make sure we have the resources to do so. QUESTION: So is that likely to be more ships in the region, sir, or — SECRETARY POMPEO: So I'll leave it to the Department of Defense to talk about specifics, but make no mistake about what the guidance President Trump has given to both the State Department and the Department of Defense. It's to make sure that we have all that we need to perform the missions that he has set before us with respect to pushing back against the Islamic Republic of Iran. QUESTION: What's your assessment of the Iraqi Government's response to what we saw at the embassy today? SECRETARY POMPEO: So we worked alongside them today. I early this morning spoke with Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi. I spoke with President Barham Salih. Later in the day, some of my officials did. The President spoke – as your piece reported, spoke with the prime minister late in the day too. We were urging them to continue to fulfill their responsibility, their obligation to protect our facility and our people. We were happy to see them deploy forces there to do that. We continue to ask them to do everything it takes to ensure that that facility is protected, as they have an obligation to do. QUESTION: Is the administration confident the Iraqis can protect U.S. personnel and facilities going forward? SECRETARY POMPEO: Collectively we're going to make sure that that gets done. We're going to make sure that we do everything we can to keep that facility safe and secure and have the resources to push back against anything that may confront us there. QUESTION: President Trump tweeted this afternoon – let's put it on the screen – "Iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities. They will pay a very big price. This is not a warning, a threat. Happy New Year." Your reaction, sir? SECRETARY POMPEO: We've been working on convincing the Islamic Republic of Iran to behave like a normal nation for the entire three years we've been in office. We inherited a terrible nuclear deal; we inherited a terrible situation where the regime had lots of money to go foment bad things around the world. We withdrew from the nuclear deal. We've imposed an incredible economic burden on the regime. We've watched, too, Mike. We've watched the Iranian people demand that their leaders behave differently. You've seen the protests. Unfortunately, the Iranians responded by killing hundreds of their own citizens, but we've watched even in Beirut and in Iraq. Even today, we saw protesters today. They weren't covered in your footage. They weren't at the embassy. But we saw protesters – real protesters, not Iranian-backed militiamen who'd been directed to go to the embassy by Qasem Soleimani but rather real protesters – demanding to say that those folks at the embassy, those aren't Iraqis, those aren't Iraqi people, they're not people who care about Iraq, We care about Iraq and we want an Iraq that is free, independent, and sovereign. And the United States, under President Trump, will continue to work on that project. QUESTION: We reported at the top a hundred U.S. Marines going to the embassy. Their role there, sir? SECRETARY POMPEO: Their role there is security and deterrence, to ensure that we have the resources available to combat anything that should come at the embassy, but also to signal very clearly to those who might think about bringing harm to our facility, to our people, that they ought to think twice. These are very capable young men prepared to deliver real force if that's what's called upon. QUESTION: Are other assets likely to go into Iraq if necessary? SECRETARY POMPEO: Absolutely. If required, I am confident President Trump will authorize whatever it takes to keep American young men and women safe wherever we find them – not only at our embassy but at the other locations and facilities we have where there are Americans today. QUESTION: Now that ISIS is largely defeated, is it your sense that the Iranians really want the United States out of the region, so there's a big void there? SECRETARY POMPEO: Yeah, I think they probably do. But more than that, the Islamic Republic of Iran has had a singular mission, right? They're kleptocrats, they're theocrats and they want to steal stuff, loot, and destroy the lives of their own people. And they do that. They think they're protecting themselves by committing terror all around the world, by assassinating people in Europe. The Islamic Republic of Iran has fundamentally failed the Iranian people, and I am convinced that the Iranian people know that. And you've seen President Trump make very clear we will continue to support the Iranian people. QUESTION: You've made it clear the United States is not going anywhere in terms of its resources there. What do you think would happen if the United States were to leave Iraq? SECRETARY POMPEO: I don't want to engage in a hypothetical. We're engaged – you talked about ISIS. We're still there working to build out the Iraqi Security Forces to conduct the counter-ISIS campaign. There's still a threat from terrorism in parts of Iraq, in Anbar province and other places. President Trump is committed to completing that mission. We talked about this in the context of Syria several months back. We said the caliphate is gone – President Trump put together a strategy that delivered the destruction and defeat 100 percent lock, stock, and barrel of the caliphate. Now we have a responsibility to ensure that the remnants of ISIS can't harm us here in the United States of America. QUESTION: Are more airstrikes likely, sir, on Iranian-backed assets in the region? SECRETARY POMPEO: I don't comment on future activity, only say simply that we're committed to the project that we began when we made the policy decision at President Trump's direction that we were going to push back against the Islamic Republic of Iran to create stability throughout the Middle East. We're still fully committed to that mission set. QUESTION: I know you have a busy schedule planned for the start of 2020, including going to Ukraine. Is this situation likely to disrupt your planning at this point? SECRETARY POMPEO: Well, I'm hoping I can still fulfill those commitments. I'm headed to Ukraine, and then to Central Asia, and then on to Cyprus. But I'll make sure I'm in the right place to ensure that our people, the people of the State Department and Americans, are safe and secure in the Middle East. And if that means I have to change or delay my trip for a bit, that's what I'll do. QUESTION: There was a bulletin a short time ago from the North Korean leader saying the world will see "new strategic weapon" in "near future." Your assessment of that, sir? SECRETARY POMPEO: So I've seen that reporting publicly. It remains the case that we hope that Chairman Kim will take a different course. President Trump came into office with the threat of war from – with North Korea real and a true concern for the American people. He took a tack; we said we can deliver a better outcome for the people of North Korea. We're hopeful that president – or that Chairman Kim will make the right decision and he'll choose peace and prosperity over conflict and war. I saw that reporting. I hope he doesn't go in that direction. QUESTION: Secretary Pompeo, Happy New Year. Thanks for your time, sir. SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you. Happy New Year, Mike. QUESTION: Safe travels. SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you, sir.
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BREAKING: U.S. to deploy 750 soldiers to Iraq after embassy compound stormed by protesters
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