Pompeo: Iran Tumult ‘Has the Real Risk of Escalating the Situation Such That the Crude Oil Prices Rise’

During an appearance on Tuesday’s broadcast of Hugh Hewitt’s nationally syndicated radio show, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed the rising tensions in the Middle East regarding Iraq.

Host Hugh Hewitt asked if Pompeo believed the Iranians were behind recent attacks on Gulf shipping and Saudi pipelines, to which Pompeo said he had no definitive conclusion but warned Iran considered it in their interest to see chaos in oil markets that would cause prices to rise.

“We haven’t formed a definitive conclusion that we can speak about publicly, but given all the regional conflicts that we have seen over the past decade and the shape of these attacks, it seems like it’s quite possible that Iran was behind these,” Pompeo said. “And we’ll continue to develop the situation, and most importantly, we will continue to take acts that protect American interests and that work to deter Iran from misbehavior in the region, which has the real risk of escalating the situation such that the crude oil prices rise, there’s chaos in the crude oil markets, something that Iran would see as advantageous to them as they attempt to continue to conduct the terror campaign that they have conducted all around the world for, frankly, the last 40 years.”

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor

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