MS JAMES: Good morning.
(Applause.)
Welcome to the Heritage Foundation.
My name is Kay James and I have the honor
of being the president here.
It is a pleasure and honor to welcome our
distinguished guest, Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo, back to Heritage.
Yes, I said back.
Some of you may remember that then-Congressman
Pompeo spoke here on September 9th, 2015.
His presence was appreciated, as his topic
was timely.
It was entitled “A Pathway Forward: An Alternative
to the Flawed Iran Nuclear Deal.”
And now we have the great pleasure of being
with our friend in his new role as Secretary
of State for the United States of America.
It’s not just a pleasure having him here;
it’s truly an honor that he chose Heritage
as the site for his first public address as
Secretary.
Our scholars here are dedicated to advancing
individual freedom and national security,
and his presence here is a wonderful affirmation
of the positive impact that their work is
having.
And so to Secretary Pompeo, I’d like to
say thank you.
Now, I imagine all who are in this room and
watching online know a great deal about Secretary
Pompeo, but please allow me to provide just
a few highlights from his extraordinary career.
Secretary Pompeo graduated first in his class
at the United States military academy at West
Point, and then served as a cavalry officer
patrolling the Iron Curtain before the fall
of the Berlin Wall.
He also served with the 2nd Squadron, 7th
Cavalry in the U.S. Army’s 4th Infantry
Division.
After leaving active duty, he attended and
graduated from Harvard Law School where he
served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review.
He then had a successful private sector career,
founding and serving as CEO of Thayer Aerospace
and then becoming president of Sentry International.
Secretary Pompeo’s public service began
when he was elected representative of Kansas’s
4th Congressional District, and his distinguished
tenure on the Hill included service on the
House Intelligence Committee, the Energy and
Commerce Committee, and the House Select Benghazi
Committee.
Recognizing the Secretary’s many talents,
President Trump tapped him as director of
the CIA, where he served from January 2017
to April 2018.
And now, of course, he is our Secretary of
State, having been sworn in just three and
a half weeks ago.
Last but, of course, never least, Secretary
Pompeo is married to Susan Pompeo and has
one son, Nick.
Secretary Pompeo, on behalf of the board of
trustees, the staff, and all of the friends
of the Heritage Foundation, welcome back to
home.
(Applause.)
SECRETARY POMPEO: Well, good morning, everyone.
I first want to thank the Heritage Foundation
and its president, Kay Coles James.
Thank you for hosting me today.
First as a private citizen and then as a member
of Congress, and even today, the Heritage
Foundation has shaped my thinking on matters
of the world and public policy issues.
I’m grateful for that excellent work.
And thanks for reminding me I can’t talk
about anything else but what we’re talking
about today.
(Laughter.)
Three years on.
But it’s an honor to be here.
Two weeks ago, President Trump terminated
the United States participation in the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action, more commonly
known as the Iran nuclear deal.
President Trump withdrew from the deal for
a simple reason: it failed to guarantee the
safety of the American people from the risk
created by the leaders of the Islamic Republic
of Iran.
No more.
No more wealth creation for Iranian kleptocrats.
No more acceptance of missiles landing in
Riyadh and in the Golan Heights.
No more cost-free expansions of Iranian power.
No more.
The JCPOA put the world at risk because of
its fatal flaws.
And they’re worth recounting at some length
today, if only for the purpose of ensuring
that subsequent arrangements do not repeat
them.
For example, the weak sunset provisions of
the JCPOA merely delayed the inevitable nuclear
weapons capability of the Iranian regime.
After the countdown clock ran out on the deal’s
sunset provisions, Iran would be free for
a quick sprint to the bomb, setting off a
potentially catastrophic arms race in the
region.
Indeed, the very brevity of the delay in the
Iranian nuclear program itself incentivized
Middle Eastern proliferation.
Moreover, as we have seen from Israel’s
recent remarkable intelligence operation,
Iran has lied for years about having had a
nuclear weapons program.
Iran entered into the JCPOA in bad faith.
It is worth noting that even today, the regime
continues to lie.
Just last month, Iranian Foreign Minister
Zarif told a Sunday morning news show, “We
never wanted to produce a bomb.”
This claim – this claim would be laughable
if not for the willful deception behind it.
Not only did the AMAD Program exist; the Iranians
took great care – though, as we can see
now, not enough care – to protect, hide,
and preserve the work of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh
Mahabadi and his gang of nuclear scientists.
The JCPOA had additional shortcomings as well.
The mechanisms for inspecting and verifying
Iran’s compliance with the deal were simply
not strong enough.
The deal did nothing to address Iran’s continuing
development of ballistic and cruise missiles,
which could deliver nuclear warheads.
The JCPOA permitted the Iranian regime to
use the money from the JCPOA to boost the
economic fortunes of a struggling people,
but the regime’s leaders refused to do so.
Instead, the government spent its newfound
treasure fueling proxy wars across the Middle
East and lining the pockets of the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hizballah, Hamas,
and the Houthis.
Remember: Iran advanced its march across the
Middle East during the JCPOA.
Qasem Soleimani has been playing with house
money that has become blood money.
Wealth created by the West has fueled his
campaigns.
Strategically, the Obama administration made
a bet that the deal would spur Iran to stop
its rogue state actions and conform to international
norms.
That bet was a loser with massive repercussions
for all of the people living in the Middle
East.
The idea of the JCPOA as a strategic pillar
of stability in the Middle East was captured
perfectly by John Kerry when he said, quote,
“I know the Middle East that is on fire
… is going to be more manageable with this
deal,” end of quote.
Query whether the Middle East is more manageable
today than it was when they embarked on the
JCPOA.
Lebanon is an even more comfortable home for
Hizballah today than it was when we embarked
on the JCPOA.
Hizballah is now armed to the teeth by Iran
and has its sights set on Israel.
Thanks to Iran, Hizballah provides the ground
forces for the military expedition in Syria.
The IRGC, too, has continued to pump thousands
of fighters into Syria to prop up the murderous
Assad regime and help make that country 71,000
square miles of kill zone.
Iran perpetuates a conflict that has displaced
more than 6 million Syrians inside the – 6
million Syrians and caused over 5 million
to seek refuge outside of its borders.
These refugees include foreign fighters who
have crossed into Europe and threatened terrorist
attacks in those countries.
In Iraq, Iran sponsored Shia militia groups
and terrorists to infiltrate and undermine
the Iraqi Security Forces and jeopardize Iraq’s
sovereignty – all of this during the JCPOA.
In Yemen, Iran’s support for the Houthi
militia fuels a conflict that continues to
starve the Yemeni people and hold them under
the threat of terror.
The IRGC has also given Houthi missiles to
attack civilian targets in Saudi Arabia and
the Emirates and to threaten international
shipping in the Red Sea.
And in Afghanistan, Iran’s support to the
Taliban in the form of weapons and funding
leads to further violence and hinders peace
and stability for the Afghan people.
Today, the Iranian Qods Force conducts covert
assassination operations in the heart of Europe.
We should remember, too, that during the JCPOA
Iran continues to hold Americans hostage:
Baquer Namazi, Siamak Namazi, Xiyue Wang,
and Bob Levinson, who has been missing for
over 11 years.
I will note for the American people, you should
know we are working diligently to bring each
American missing wrongfully detained in Iran
home.
The list continues.
Iran continues to be, during the JCPOA, the
world’s largest sponsor of terror.
It continues to serve as sanctuary for al-Qaida,
as it has done since 9/11, and remains unwilling
to bring to justice senior al-Qaida members
residing in Tehran.
Today we ask the Iranian people: Is this what
you want your country to be known for, for
being a co-conspirator with Hizballah, Hamas,
the Taliban, and al-Qaida?
The United States believe you deserve better.
And I have an additional point for the Iranian
people to ponder.
Here in the West, President Rouhani and Foreign
Minister Zarif are often held apart from the
regime’s unwise terrorist and malign behavior.
They are treated somehow differently.
The West says, “Boy, if only they could
control Ayatollah Khamenei and Qasem Soleimani
then things would be great.”
Yet, Rouhani and Zarif are your elected leaders.
Are they not the most responsible for your
economic struggles?
Are these two not responsible for wasting
Iranian lives throughout the Middle East?
It’s worth the Iranian people considering,
because instead of helping their own citizens,
the regime continues to seek a corridor stretching
from Iran’s borders to the shores of the
Mediterranean.
Iran wants this corridor to transport fighters
and an advanced weapons system to Israel’s
doorsteps.
Indeed in recent months, the IRGC has flown
an armed drone into Israeli airspace and launched
salvos of rockets into the Golan Heights from
Syria.
Our steadfast ally has asserted the sovereign
right of self-defense in response, a stance
the United States will continue to unequivocally
support.
So the bet – the bet that the JCPOA would
increase Middle East stability was a bad one
for America, for Europe, for the Middle East,
and indeed for the entire world.
It is clear that the JCPOA has not ended Iran’s
nuclear ambitions, nor did it deter its quest
for a regional hegemony.
Iran’s leaders saw the deal as the starting
gun for the march across the Middle East.
So, the path forward.
America’s commitment to the Iran strategy
President Trump laid down in October remains.
It will now be executed outside of the JCPOA.
We’ll continue to work with allies to counter
the regime’s destabilizing activities in
the region, block their financing of terror,
and address Iran’s proliferation of missiles
and other advanced weapons systems that threaten
peace and stability.
We will also ensure Iran has no path to a
nuclear weapon – not now, not ever.
Following our withdrawal from the JCPOA, President
Trump has asked me to achieve these goals
on Iran.
We’ll pursue those goals along several lines
of effort.
First, we will apply unprecedented financial
pressure on the Iranian regime.
The leaders in Tehran will have no doubt about
our seriousness.
Thanks to our colleagues at the Department
of Treasury, sanctions are going back in full
effect and new ones are coming.
Last week we imposed sanctions on the head
of Iran’s central bank and other entities
that were funneling money to the IRGC Qods
Force.
They were also providing money to Hizballah
and other terrorist organizations.
The Iranian regime should know that this is
just the beginning.
This sting of sanctions will be painful if
the regime does not change its course from
the unacceptable and unproductive path it
has chosen to one that rejoins the league
of nations.
These will indeed end up being the strongest
sanctions in history when we are complete.
The regime has been fighting all over the
Middle East for years.
After our sanctions come in force, it will
be battling to keep its economy alive.
Iran will be forced to make a choice: either
fight to keep its economy off life support
at home or keep squandering precious wealth
on fights abroad.
It will not have the resources to do both.
Second, I will work closely with the Department
of Defense and our regional allies to deter
Iranian aggression.
We will ensure freedom of navigation on the
waters in the region.
We will work to prevent and counteract any
Iranian malign cyber activity.
We will track down Iranian operatives and
their Hizballah proxies operating around the
world and we will crush them.
Iran will never again have carte blanche to
dominate the Middle East.
And I’d remind the leadership in Iran what
President Trump said: If they restart their
nuclear program, it will mean bigger problems
– bigger problems than they’d ever had
before.
Third, we will also advocate tirelessly for
the Iranian people.
The regime must improve how it treats its
citizens.
It must protect the human rights of every
Iranian.
It must cease wasting Iran’s wealth abroad.
We ask that our international partners continue
to add their voice to ours in condemning Iran’s
treatment of its own citizens.
The protests – the protests of the past
few months show that the Iranian people are
deeply frustrated with their own government’s
failures.
The Iranian economy is struggling as a result
of bad Iranian decisions.
Workers aren’t getting paid, strikes are
a daily occurrence, and the rial is plummeting.
Youth unemployment is at a staggering 25 percent.
Government mismanagement of Iran’s natural
resources has led to severe droughts and other
environmental crises as well.
Look, these problems are compounded by enormous
corruption inside of Iran, and the Iranian
people can smell it.
The protests last winter showed that many
are angry at the regime that keeps for itself
what the regime steals from its people.
And Iranians too are angry at a regime elite
that commits hundreds of millions of dollars
to military operations and terrorist groups
abroad while the Iranian people cry out for
a simple life with jobs and opportunity and
with liberty.
The Iranian regime’s response to the protests
has only exposed the country’s leadership
is running scared.
Thousands have been jailed arbitrarily, and
at least dozens have been killed.
As seen from the hijab protests, the brutal
men of the regime seem to be particularly
terrified by Iranian women who are demanding
their rights.
As human beings with inherent dignity and
inalienable rights, the women of Iran deserve
the same freedoms that the men of Iran possess.
But this is all on top of a well-documented
terror and torture that the regime has inflicted
for decades on those who dissent from the
regime’s ideology.
The Iranian regime is going to ultimately
have to look itself in the mirror.
The Iranian people, especially its youth,
are increasingly eager for economic, political,
and social change.
The United States stands with those longing
for a country of economic opportunity, government
transparency, fairness, and greater liberty.
We hope, indeed we expect, that the Iranian
regime will come to its senses and support
– not suppress – the aspirations of its
own citizens.
We’re open to new steps with not only our
allies and partners, but with Iran as well.
But only if Iran is willing to make major
changes.
As President Trump said two weeks ago, he
is ready, willing, and able to negotiate a
new deal.
But the deal is not the objective.
Our goal is to protect the American people.
Any new agreement will make sure Iran never
acquires a nuclear weapon, and will deter
the regime’s malign behavior in a way that
the JCPOA never could.
We will not repeat the mistakes of past administrations,
and we will not renegotiate the JCPOA itself.
The Iranian wave of destruction in the region
in just the last few years is proof that Iran’s
nuclear aspirations cannot be separated from
the overall security picture.
So what should it be?
We must begin to define what it is that we
demand from Iran.
First, Iran must declare to the IAEA a full
account of the prior military dimensions of
its nuclear program, and permanently and verifiably
abandon such work in perpetuity.
Second, Iran must stop enrichment and never
pursue plutonium reprocessing.
This includes closing its heavy water reactor.
Third, Iran must also provide the IAEA with
unqualified access to all sites throughout
the entire country.
Iran must end its proliferation of ballistic
missiles and halt further launching or development
of nuclear-capable missile systems.
Iran must release all U.S. citizens, as well
as citizens of our partners and allies, each
of them detained on spurious charges.
Iran must end support to Middle East terrorist
groups, including Lebanese Hizballah, Hamas,
and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Iran must respect the sovereignty of the Iraqi
Government and permit the disarming, demobilization,
and reintegration of Shia militias.
Iran must also end its military support for
the Houthi militia and work towards a peaceful
political settlement in Yemen.
Iran must withdraw all forces under Iranian
command throughout the entirety of Syria.
Iran, too, must end support for the Taliban
and other terrorists in Afghanistan and the
region, and cease harboring senior al-Qaida
leaders.
Iran, too, must end the IRG Qods Force’s
support for terrorists and militant partners
around the world.
And too, Iran must end its threatening behavior
against its neighbors – many of whom are
U.S. allies.
This certainly includes its threats to destroy
Israel, and its firing of missiles into Saudi
Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
It also includes threats to international
shipping and destructive – and destructive
cyberattacks.
That list is pretty long, but if you take
a look at it, these are 12 very basic requirements.
The length of the list is simply a scope of
the malign behavior of Iran.
We didn’t create the list, they did.
From my conversations with European friends,
I know that they broadly share these same
views of what the Iranian regime must do to
gain acceptance in the international community.
I ask that America’s allies join us in calling
for the Iranian Government to act more responsibly.
In exchange for major changes in Iran, the
United States is prepared to take actions
which will benefit the Iranian people.
These areas of action include a number of
things.
First, once this is achieved, we’re prepared
to end the principal components of every one
of our sanctions against the regime.
We’re happy at that point to re-establish
full diplomatic and commercial relationships
with Iran.
And we’re prepared to admit[i] Iran to have
advanced technology.
If Iran makes this fundamental strategic shift,
we, too, are prepared to support the modernization
and reintegration of the Iranian economy into
the international economic system.
But relief from our efforts will come only
when we see tangible, demonstrated, and sustained
shifts in Tehran’s policies.
We acknowledge Iran’s right to defend its
people.
But not its actions which jeopardize world’s
citizens.
Also, in contrast to the previous administration,
we want to include Congress as a partner in
this process.
We want our efforts to have broad support
with the American people and endure beyond
the Trump Administration.
A treaty would be our preferred way to go.
Unlike the JCPOA, which was broadly rejected
across both sides of the aisle, an agreement
that President Trump proposes would surely
garner this type of widespread support from
our elected leaders and the American people.
In the strategy we laid out today, we want
the support of our most important allies and
partners in the region and around the globe.
Certainly our European friends, but much more
than that.
I want the Australians, the Bahrainis, the
Egyptians, the Indians, the Japanese, the
Jordanians, the Kuwaitis, the Omanis, the
Qataris, the Saudi Arabians, South Korea,
the UAE, and many, many others worldwide to
join in this effort against the Islamic Republic
of Iran.
I know that those countries share the same
goals.
They understand the challenge the same way
that America does.
Indeed, we welcome any nation which is sick
and tired of the nuclear threats, the terrorism,
the missile proliferation, and the brutality
of a regime which is at odds with world peace,
a country that continues to inflict chaos
on innocent people.
Indeed, while to some the changes in Iranian
behavior we seek may seem unrealistic, we
should recall that what we are pursuing was
the global consensus before the JCPOA.
For example, in 2012, President Obama said,
quote, “The deal we’ll accept is [that]
they end their nuclear program,” end of
quote.
That didn’t happen.
In 2006, the P5 voted at the Security Council
for Iran to immediately suspend all enrichment
activities.
That didn’t happen.
In 2013, the French foreign minister said
he was wary of being sucked into a, quote,
“con game,” end of quote, over allowing
Iran to continue uranium enrichment.
In 2015, John Kerry said, quote, “We don’t
recognize the right to enrich,” end of quote.
Yet the Iranians are enriching even as we
sit here today.
So we’re not asking anything other than
that Iranian behavior be consistent with global
norms, global norms widely recognized before
the JCPOA.
And we want to eliminate their capacity to
threaten our world with those nuclear activities.
With respect to its nuclear activities, why
would we allow Iran more capability than we
have permitted the United Arab Emirates and
that we’re asking for the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia?
We understand that our reimposition of sanctions
and the coming pressure campaign on the Iranian
regime will pose financial and economic difficulties
for a number of our friends.
Indeed, it imposes economic challenges to
America as well.
These are markets our businesses would love
to sell into as well.
And we want to hear their concerns.
But we will hold those doing prohibited business
in Iran to account.
Over the coming weeks, we will send teams
of specialists to countries around the world
to further explain administration policy,
to discuss the implications of sanctions we
imposition, and to listen.
I know.
I’ve spent a great deal of time with our
allies in my first three weeks.
I know that they may decide to try and keep
their old nuclear deal going with Tehran.
That is certainly their decision to make.
They know where we stand.
Next year marks the 40th anniversary of the
Islamic Republic – Revolution in Iran.
At this milestone, we have to ask: What has
the Iranian Revolution given to the Iranian
people?
The regime reaps a harvest of suffering and
death in the Middle East at the expense of
its own citizens.
Iran’s economy is stagnant and without direction
and about to get worse.
Its young people are withering under the weight
of frustrated ambitions.
They are longing to pursue the freedoms and
opportunities of the 21st century.
Iran’s leaders can change all of this if
they choose to do so.
Ali Khamenei has been supreme leader since
1989.
He will not live forever, nor will the Iranian
people abide the rigid rules of tyrants forever.
For two generations, the Iranian regime has
exacted a heavy toll on its own people and
the world.
The hard grip of repression is all that millions
of Iranians have ever known.
Now is the time for the supreme leader and
the Iranian regime to summon the courage to
do something historically beneficial for its
own people, for this ancient and proud nation.
As for the United States, our eyes are clear
as to the nature of this regime, but our ears
are open to what may be possible.
Unlike the previous administration, we are
looking for outcomes that benefit the Iranian
people, not just the regime.
If anyone, especially the leaders of Iran,
doubts the President’s sincerity or his
vision, let them look at our diplomacy with
North Korea.
Our willingness to meet with Kim Jong-un underscores
the Trump administration’s commitment to
diplomacy to help solve the greatest challenges,
even with our staunchest adversaries.
But that willingness, that willingness has
been accompanied by a painful pressure campaign
that reflects our commitment to resolve this
challenge forever.
To the ayatollah, to President Rouhani, and
to other Iranian leaders: understand that
your current activities will be met with steely
resolve.
My final message today is, in fact, to the
Iranian people.
I want to repeat President Trump’s words
from October.
President Trump said that, “We stand in
total solidarity with the Iranian regime’s
longest-suffering victims: its own people.
The citizens of Iran have paid a heavy price
for the violence and extremism of their leaders.
The Iranian people long to reclaim their country’s
proud history, its culture, its civilization,
and its cooperation with its neighbors.”
It is America’s hope that our labors toward
peace and security will bear fruit for the
long-suffering people of Iran.
We long to see them prosper and flourish as
in past decades and, indeed, as never before.
Today, the United States of America is proud
to take a new course towards that objective.
Thank you.
(Applause.)
MS JAMES: Thank you so very much.
Bold, concise, unambiguous.
We appreciate you taking this forum here at
the Heritage Foundation to deliver that message.
Looking at – and you listed during your
speech several of our allies and friends and
partners, many of whom are angry, some disappointed.
How are you going to bring them on board?
How are you going to use your best diplomatic
skills to bring them along with us?
SECRETARY POMPEO: These strategic changes
in the world come together when countries
decide on an objective that is shared, and
that always begins with a shared interest
and values.
I spent the first couple of weeks of my time
as Secretary of State working to try to see
if there wasn’t a way to fix the deal.
I spoke with my European counterparts.
I traveled there.
In my 13th hour as Secretary of State I was
on the ground in Brussels speaking with my
European counterparts.
We couldn’t get it done.
We couldn’t reach agreement there.
The United States intends to work hard at
the diplomatic piece of working alongside
all of our partners.
We focus on the Europeans, but there are scores
of countries around the world who share our
concerns and are equally threatened by the
Iranian regime.
It’s that shared interest, it’s the value
set which will ultimately drive, I believe,
a global response to this – to the world’s
largest state sponsor of terror.
I’m convinced it can take place.
My team is going to work diligently to do
that.
We’re going to do so in the context of trying
to address the concerns of all of our partners,
and I am convinced that over a period of time
there will be a broad recognition that the
strategy that President Trump has laid out
is the right one that will put Iran in a place
where it will one day rejoin civilization
in the way that we all hope that it will.
MS JAMES: It’s clear through your comments
this morning that you truly want tough sanctions.
And I think that there is some remaining concern
about how are you going to deal with the nuclear
concerns.
Can you speak to that for just a bit?
And let me say to our audience, by the way,
that I wish we had more time with the Secretary
this morning, and there will be an abrupt
and a hard stop because we have to get him
out to the CIA and – for the swearing-in
ceremony, and we don’t want you late for
that.
So talk to us about --
SECRETARY POMPEO: I got to go back one more
time.
MS JAMES: One more time.
(Laughter.)
SECRETARY POMPEO: Look, the nuclear file is
imperative.
It presents the largest, most severe threat
for sure.
The JCPOA fell short.
It was a delay.
Our aim is to get that permanently fixed.
I mentioned quickly, right, we ask our other
Middle Eastern partners to do hard things.
We put a 123 agreement in front of them and
say, “This is what you have to do.”
And they say, “Hey, the Iranians enrich.”
That’s reasonable.
That seems to me a reasonable point.
Well, our demands on Iran aren’t unreasonable.
Give up your program.
End it.
Should they choose to go back, should they
begin to enrich, we’re fully prepared to
respond to that as well.
I’m certainly not going to share with you
today precisely what our response will be.
But we watch them talk.
We’ve heard them say – I hope that they’ll
make a different decision, that they’ll
choose a different path.
We welcome them taking a path that other nations
in the region are beginning to take as well.
MS JAMES: Well, can you explain for us the
sanctions structure and how you intend to
target the Iranian regime without hurting
our European friends?
SECRETARY POMPEO: Well, any time sanctions
are put in place, countries have to give up
economic activity.
So the Americans have given up economic activity
now for an awfully long time, and I’ll concede
there are American companies who would love
to do business with the Islamic Republic of
Iran.
There’s a huge market there.
It’s a big, vibrant, wonderful peoples.
But everyone is going to have to participate
in this.
Every country is going to have to understand
that we cannot continue to create wealth for
Qasem Soleimani.
Right, that’s what this is.
At the end of the day, this money has flowed
to him.
The economics have permitted them to run roughshod
across the Middle East.
Our effort is to strangle his economic capacity
to do harm to the Middle East and to the world.
Nuclear programs aren’t cheap.
To the extent we are effective at making it
more difficult on the Iranian regime, we will
reduce their capacity to continue to build
out their nuclear weapon system as well.
MS JAMES: You’ve laid out a very, very bold
plan this morning.
Do you have a timeframe for getting all this
done?
SECRETARY POMPEO: So the sanctions are back
in place and are winding down over the next
100 and what, 55 days?
There are – there’s lots more work in
place.
It is a effort across all of government.
We are working certainly diplomatically in
the lead, but Department of Commerce, Department
of Defense, each of us has the same mission
from President Trump.
I can’t put a timeline on it.
But at the end of the day, the Iranian people
will decide the timeline.
At the end of the day, the Iranian people
will get to make a choice about their leadership.
If they make the decision quickly, that would
be wonderful.
If they choose not to do so, we will stay
hard at this until we achieve the outcomes
that I set forward today.
MS JAMES: Well, Mr. Secretary, again, on behalf
of the Heritage Foundation and the scholars
here who have been working on these issues
for a very long time, we want to thank you.
Again, it was a bold vision – clear, concise,
unambiguous – and we want to congratulate
you and the President, and we wish you Godspeed.
I am going to ask you to remain seated while
the Secretary exits.
I have about eight more questions here, but
--
SECRETARY POMPEO: For another day.
MS JAMES: For another day.
SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you all very much
for being here.
MS JAMES: Thank you so much.
(Applause.)
