Pompeo: 'Unmistakable' That Iran Behind Tanker Attacks

Sec. of State Mike Pompeo (Ashihi Shimbun/Getty Images)

By Cathy Burke | Sunday, 16 June 2019 10:02 AM

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday it’s “unmistakable” that Iran was behind the attacks on two commercial tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S.-Iran tensions are high following accusations by the administration of President Donald Trump that Tehran carried out attacks last Thursday on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, a vital oil shipping route. Iran has denied having any role.

In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Pompeo said the nation has “high confidence” in placing the blame on the Islamic Republic, but added that President Trump doesn’t “want a war.”

“It is unmistakable what happened here,” he said. “These were attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran on commercial shipping on the freedom of navigation with the clear intent to deny transit through the Strait.”

“The American people should rest assured we have high confidence with respect to who conducted these attacks, as well as half a dozen other attacks throughout the world over the past 40 days,” he added.

He said the Trump administration doesn’t want war with Iran, but will “take actions that deter Iran.”

“We don't want a war. We've done what we can to deter this,” he said. “The Iranians should understand very clearly that we will continue to take actions that deter Iran from engaging in this behind some kind of behavior.”

Pompeo said he did not want to discuss possible next steps the United States might take in response to last week's developments.

"The intelligence community has lots of data, lots of evidence. The world will come to see much of it," said Pompeo, who headed the Central Intelligence Agency before becoming secretary of state.

"Iran will not get a nuke weapon. That's the goal," he said when asked about the possibility of Trump sending more American troops and military hardware to the region.

"I made a number of calls to colleagues around the world yesterday. I am confident that we will have partners that understand this threat," Pompeo said.

Pompeo also pushed back on the controversy over Trump’s remarks about not spying on North Korea — and took a swipe at the Obama administration for not doing enough to stop foreign interference in U.S. elections.

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