Pompeo on Iran: U.S. Ready for a ‘Wide Range of Possible Responses’

Friday on CNN’s “New Day,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo commented on the U.S. military’s airstrikes in Baghdad which killed Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani.

Pompeo shared that the United States is prepared for a “wide range of possible responses” by Iran, adding the world “is a much safer place” following the attacks.

“John, we’ve anticipated a wide range of possible responses,” Pompeo told host John Berman. “And we have done our level best under the direct guidance of the president to prepare for all of those possibilities. We hope the actual response, John, is that the Iraqi people will do what they’ve been doing for months. They’ll demand that the Iraqi government give them freedom, prosperity and sovereignty. We’ve watched these protests over the last weeks. They weren’t burning American flags. They were demanding that Iraqi political leadership stop their … political shenanigans and Qassem Soleimani was at the center of that. He was driving bad outcomes for the Iraqi people. He was causing many Muslims of the region to be killed. I saw last night there was dancing in the streets in parts of Iraq. We have every expectation that people will view the American action last night as giving them freedom — freedom to have the opportunity for success and prosperity for their nations. And while the political leadership may not want that, the people in these nations will demand it.”

“The world is a much safer place today. I can assure you that Americans in the region are much safer,” he emphasized.

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