MESOPOTAMIA NEWS TODAYS PULSE : Pompeo slams Iran for funding militias, using terror proxies

Pompeo spoke to NPR on Friday in an interview that later raised controversy about US Ukraine policy.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN   JANUARY 25, 2020 02:59 – JERUSALEM POST

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed Iran for funding Iraqi Shi’ite militias, Hamas, Hezbollah in an interview Friday. The US is working to convince Iran that its model of using proxies, terror campaigns, assassinations in Europe and an assassination attempt “right here in Washington” is “not tolerable,” Pompeo said.

Pompeo spoke to NPR on Friday in an interview that later raised controversy about US Ukraine policy. However he came on to discuss Iran initially and wanted to hammer home several points. The top US diplomat said that the previous US administration of Barack Obama had enabled Iran’s regime through the 2015 Iran deal and giving them “billions and billions of dollars” to underwrite aggressive actions. He pointed also to humiliation of US sailors.

The US says that Iranian money has been underwriting Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas and Iraqi-based Shi’ite militias. Now the Trump administration is trying to stop those funding channels by pressuring Tehran through sanctions. Pompeo praised his team and Trump for working to pressure Iran from day one of coming into office. “We’ve built out a coalition that is working together – Gulf states, Israel, many European countries – to deliver.”

Iran has been pressured by a recent US air strike on IRGC general Qasem Soleimani and fired ballistic missiles at bases in Iraq.