Secretary of State Pompeo blames current tension with Iran on 'Obama administration’s appeasement'

William Cummings | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Iranian parliament members chant 'death to America' Members of the 290-seat Iranian parliament raise a fist and chant "death to America" to protest the death of Qasem Soleimani.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laid the blame for the escalating hostilities between the U.S. and Iran on former President Barack Obama, accusing the previous administration of trying to appease the theocratic regime and arguing that the deal aimed at delaying Iran's development of nuclear weapons only succeeded in funding regional terrorism.

"We’re trying to correct for what was the Obama administration’s appeasement of Iran," Pompeo said Sunday on the ABC News' "This Week."

"This is a regime that has been acting against America for an awfully long time. And we are suffering from eight years of neglect and we’re trying to push it back. We’re trying to contain them," he said.

Iran has vowed to retaliate for a U.S. airstrike that killed Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the well-known leader of Iran's elite Quds Force, near the Baghdad airport last week.

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The attack that killed Soleimani came after Iran-backed militias stormed the U.S. Embassy in response to an earlier U.S. airstrike that killed at least two dozen militia fighters in sites in Iraq and Syria. The U.S. said that strike was in retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq that killed an American contractor and left four U.S. service members wounded.

Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," Pompeo said the administration is "prepared for anything the Islamic Republic of Iran may do" in response to Soleimani's death.

He referred to the developing conflict as a "war," which he said began when Obama and the European Union adopted the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Under that deal, Iran agreed to scrap its nuclear weapons program for at least 10 years in exchange for sanctions relief and the release of previously frozen funds.

"Frankly, this war kicked off – people talk about the war – this war kicked off when the JCPOA was entered into," he said.

Pompeo said that under the "terrible nuclear deal," which President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of, hundred of thousands of people died in Syria and Shiite militias grew more powerful.

"These are things that were ongoing activities, resourced and funded by the trade and the money that was provided under the JCPOA," he said on "This Week."

"That was the deal we inherited. It’s a place we found ourselves, and we’re working diligently to execute our strategy to convince the Iranian regime to act like a normal nation," he said.

Critics of Trump's Iran policy dispute Pompeo's take on who is to blame for the current state of affairs, arguing Trump set the U.S. on the path to conflict with Iran by pulling out of the nuclear agreement.

Former Obama adviser Ben Rhodes said Iran had been complying with the nuclear deal and that Iran did not launch any rocket attacks on U.S. interests after the deal took effect.

"Trump pulled out and Iran resumed nuke program and rocket attacks," Rhodes tweeted.

This is BS from Pompeo. This isn’t a ‘both sides argue’ issue, it’s about facts: Iran was complying with deal that rolled back nuke program and there were 0 rocket attacks on US interests in Iraq during that time. Trump pulled out and Iran resumed nuke program and rocket attacks https://t.co/wSRUzuuPgz — Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) January 5, 2020

Pompeo said the U.S. strategy to contain Iran included a diplomatic, economic and military components, as well as an "enormous coalition" of regional allies.

Despite the secretary of state's belief that Trump's Iran strategy is "absolutely" working and that "the world is a safer place" with the killing of Soleimani, critics said the actions further destabilized the region and risk an all-out war with Iran.

"I really worry that the actions the president took will get us into what he calls another endless war in the Middle East. He promised we wouldn't have that. And I think we're closer to that now because of his actions," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on "This Week."

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Schumer did not think Soleimani's death made the world safer and he questioned whether Trump was prepared for the Iranian response.

"And let's face it, this president has made a mess of foreign policy. North Korea, they’re much stronger than they were when he started. In Syria, he messed up. Every encounter he has with Putin, he loses," Schumer said. "And so, I am really worried, and that is why Congress must assert itself."

Democrats in the House and Senate have introduced a resolution barring the administration from taking military action against Iran without further congressional authorization.

"‪Let’s not mince words: the assassination of Qasem Soleimani was an act of war undertaken without Congressional authorization, in violation of the Constitution of the United States of America," wrote Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Barbara Lee, D-Calif., in a statement announcing the House resolution.

Pompeo said the administration had "all the authority we need to do what we’ve done to-date" and promised it "will continue to do things appropriately, lawfully, and constitutionally."

But Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Sunday on CBS News' "Face the Nation" that Trump "does not have authorization from Congress to go to war with Iran" and the killing of Soleimani – which he called an assassination – "potentially sets us on a course to do just that."

Murphy said the Trump administration's Iran policy "has been a disaster from the very beginning," arguing Iran was more powerful now than when Trump took office. He said Obama and former President George W. Bush also had the opportunity to kill Soleimani but did not act on it "despite the fact that he was carrying out attacks on U.S. forces," because "they believed ultimately that would get more Americans killed."

The Democratic senator said the negative consequences of Soleimani's death were already being felt as Iraq's prime minister and Parliament have called for U.S. troops to leave the country after nearly two decades.

He also accused Trump of violating the War Powers Act by not consulting with congressional leaders before the strike. The administration has justified the attack on Soleimani on the grounds that he was plotting future attacks on U.S. troops and interests. But Murphy said the burden of proof is on the administration to show lawmakers that the Iranian general represented an "imminent threat."

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, was one of the Democratic lawmakers to be briefed after the attack.

"I accept the notion that there was a real threat," Warner said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "The question of how imminent is something that I need more information on."

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., agreed it was "accurate" to say Soleimani was plotting against American interests.

"But it's also true that Soleimani has been plotting against the United States for decades. The question is, did the plotting here rise to the level that required his elimination from the battlefield?" Schiff said. "I don't think the intelligence supports the conclusion that removing Soleimani increases our security."

Schumer called the information he had seen from the administration "very unsatisfying."

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who sits on both the Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees, said Trump's actions had been defensive.

"He is not saying Congress, I need 100,000 American troops to invade Iran. That's why all this talk about war powers and congressional authority is so silly," Rubio said. "The president’s not talking about invading Iran. He's talking about responding to anything Iran may do in the future. And the president has not only the full authority to do that, but an obligation to do that."

Rubio said Trump was forced to act in the face of "information that there is an imminent and credible threat that could cost the lives" of "potentially hundreds, if not thousands, of American servicemen and women and other personnel in the region."

"Any president would have an obligation to act. And this president did," Rubio said.