The United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) annual policy conference gives senior government officials and policy experts from all over the world the opportunity to discuss the Iran issue. At this summit this year Secretary Pompeo was the key speaker.

Secretary Pompeo started his speech by speaking about the recent attacks on Saudi Arabia, saying that it was incredibly luckily that there was not a significant death and injury toll. He explained that he immediately called the attacks an “act of war”, quite simply because that is what it was. In reference to the claims that the United States was quick to judge the situation, Secretary Pompeo pointed out that there was no rush to action. The US called on its partners to examine the evidence.

Just this week, the United Kingdom, Germany and France released a joint statement condemning Iran’s role in the attacks, stating that it is clear that Iran is responsible. The three countries also said that although the attacks were on Saudi Arabia, “they concern all countries and increase the risk of a major conflict”.

Regarding claims that the Europeans appear to have joined the United States, Secretary Pompeo said that they have simply “joined reality”.

The Secretary of State pointed to the Iranian regime’s four decades of unprovoked aggression, not just against its neighbours but also against the people of Iran. Pompeo said that the list of aggressions is long, listing only a few – the mistreatment and murder of the people of Iran, the killing of Americans across the region, to harbouring terrorist groups such as Al-Qaida, and so on. And he emphasised that there have been “too few consequences” for the regime.

Secretary Pompeo emphasised that policies of appeasement do not work with Iran because it just emboldens the regime. He said that when Trump took office, Iran had not – as predicted by the Obama administration – “joined the community of nations”. Instead, there was a crisis in Syria because of Iran’s support for Assad, a humanitarian crisis in Yemen, and a broken Iraq.

He said that the decision to leave the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was the right one because it cut the regime’s revenues, meaning it has less resources to fund terrorism and destruction.

Finally, Secretary Pompeo said that more nations need to stand up to Iran’s malign behaviour and expressed optimism that more countries are starting to see the reality.