Elaborating on several days of US threats against Iran if they retaliate over the recent US assassination of top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says that the US might well kill more Iranian leaders if Iran threatens US interests in its own retaliation.
Pompeo made the comments in the course of Sunday TV interviews, seeking to clarify President Trump’s own threat to launch “disproportionate” attacks against Iran going forward, even as US military officials were saying they didn’t envision any more attacks going forward.
Pompeo’s comments are trying to frame Thursday’s attack, and the changing narrative. Previously claiming Gen. Soleimani was ready to launch an “imminent” attack, he now claimed only that an attack would’ve been “inevitable” if the US hadn’t killed him.
Other reports indicate the assassination was just one of several options for attacking Iran that Trump was given, suggesting that killing Soleimani was a choice, and that the US narrative for why was built after the fact.
Pompeo also dismissed Congressional talk of trying to react to the unauthorized US attack, saying that the president has “all the authority we need” to do what they’d done without informing Congress.
Pompeo went on to say that the only reason the new Iran conflict is happening at all is because of President Obama’s appeasement. This suggests there is not going to be a significant diplomatic effort after the recent US military engagement.
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