Pompeo casts doubt on renewed US-Iran talks: ‘I’m not optimistic’ |
Pompeo casts doubt on renewed US-Iran talks: ‘I’m not optimistic’
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that he is “not optimistic” about U.S. and Iranian officials reaching an agreement to end hostilities when they meet for another round of indirect peace talks in Islamabad on Saturday.
“Look, I don’t fault them [U.S. officials] for trying to go engage in diplomacy, get an outcome, but I’m not optimistic,” Pompeo told hosts Rita Cosby and John Catsimatidis on the “Cats & Cosby Show” on WABC 770 AM.
“I think the world’s experience with Iranian negotiators is that they’re going to play for time, stall, try and drag this out,” he added. “I doubt President Trump will let that continue too much longer.”
The White House is sending special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, to lead the second round of Pakistani-mediated ceasefire talks. Vice President Vance, who spearheaded the first negotiations, is reportedly on standby.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is leading the Iranian delegation, which arrived in Pakistan on Friday, but the country has ruled out a face-to-face meeting with U.S. counterparts.
The two sides are attempting to hash out a longer-term deal to end the nearly eight-week conflict, with a temporary ceasefire hanging delicately in the balance. Trump extended the truce on Tuesday until Tehran could present a “unified proposal,” offering no specific timeline.
While Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, remains officially in charge of Iran’s armed forces and nuclear program, his public absence has left open questions about who is calling the shots.
Khamenei has not been seen since the early days of the conflict, and The New York Times reported on Thursday that he was awaiting a prosthetic leg and facial plastic surgery following a bomb attack.
“I’m not sure there’s anybody who can speak on behalf of the Iranian military in its entirety yet, and so I don’t know who will be across the table from them,” Pompeo argued. “I’d be surprised if they would be any more reasonable than the previous negotiators.”
The first round of talks — also the first in-person meeting between the nations since 1979 — collapsed two weeks ago as the U.S. and Tehran were unable to reach an agreement on the future of the country’s nuclear program.
Pompeo, who has long been skeptical of the Iranians’ willingness to cut a deal with the U.S., suggested a similar outcome was possible on Saturday — but hoped he was wrong.
“I suspect we’ll be back to blockade and trying to inflict more costs on the Iranian’s before too terribly long,” he said. “I hope there’s a deal that makes enormous sense for the United States, for Israel, the Gulf, but I’m not optimistic.”
The former secretary of state, however, stopped short of declaring a stalemate in the conflict, arguing that the U.S. “still has the leverage needed to get the outcomes” Trump wants.
“A stalemate is when both sides have a lot of cards, a lot of different tools that they can play to bring to bear, and that’s just simply not the case here,” he told the hosts. “We still have dominance, the capacity to execute that dominance. I think the Iranians know that.”
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