Pompeo to 'attack' Europeans over Iran deal

Pompeo will use his first foreign policy speech on Monday to “attack” the Europeans for refusing to go along with President Donald Trump’s decision to unilaterally walk away from the Iran nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, Barrett said.

On May 8, Trump announced his decision to withdraw the United States from nuclear deal despite efforts by the European allies to convince him to stay in the 2015 agreement.

Trump also signed a presidential memorandum to impose the “highest level of sanctions” against Iran and said the US would punish companies and countries that violate those sanctions.

The State Department’s top policy adviser, Brian Hook, said Friday that Pompeo will lay out the administration’s plans to negotiate a “new framework that’s going to address the totality of Iran’s threats.”

“I don’t think the Europeans are going to be charmed by Mr. Pompeo,” Barrett said. “He is an extreme neoconservative; he was in the group that pushed for the Iraq war. He’s close to the people who are the leading suspects in the unsolved crime of September 11, 2001.”

“As such, he is not going to win many popularity points with the Europeans who have let it be known that they have absolutely no use for Trump’s decision to destroy the JCPOA, or to try to anyway,” he added.

Washington faces an uphill battle to convince European allies to back the new sanctions as European companies could lose billions of dollars in commercial deals struck since the nuclear accord, and lose access to a major new export market.

“I think Pompeo is probably going to have a rude awakening when he discovers that the world won’t go along with his plans,” Barrett said.