Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s first major foreign policy speech was everything Iran hawks have dreamt about.
The address was filled with tough-sounding rhetoric about Iran’s behavior in the Middle East. Pompeo provided red meat to neoconservatives, unilateralists, and primacists alike, outlining an approach that relies on economic, military, and political pressure to bend Iran to Washington’s will.
What the Trump administration billed as a “plan B” in a post-Iranian-nuclear-deal world was in truth not a plan but a long list of grievances and a series of demands that Tehran will almost certainly reject. “Relief from sanctions will come only when we see tangible, demonstrated, and sustained shifts in Tehran’s policies,” Pompeo told his audience.
These may be popular words from the standpoint of domestic politics. But in terms of actual policy, the speech is substanceless, writes Daniel DePetris, a fellow at Defense Priorities.
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