Pompeo on Extremism during Middle East Tour

On January 8, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo embarked on a Middle East tour. He reassured U.S. allies that Washington is a reliable partner in addressing the region’s many problems, including extremism. At a press conference with his Egyptian counterpart, Secretary Pompeo said, “We urge every country to take meaningful action to crush terrorism and denounce its ideological roots. You’ll not fight these battles alone.”

The visit followed President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement on December 19 that he was pulling U.S. troops out of Syria “now.” Pompeo visited Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman. In a major speech in Cairo on January 10, and in other remarks, the secretary highlighted two primary goals for the Middle East, defeating ISIS and containing Iran’s influence. "In Syria, the United States will use diplomacy and work with our partners to expel every last Iranian boot, and work through the U.N.-led process to bring peace and stability to the long-suffering Syrian people," he declared. The following are excerpted remarks by Pompeo and Middle Eastern leaders.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

QUESTION: -- hoping you could just characterize the conversations you just came from in terms of Iranian action in Yemen and Syria, what the Saudis are expecting, what you’re communicating back.

SECRETARY POMPEO: So this all – step back and this all starts with extremism in whatever form you find it. In this case you have Iranian-backed Houthis, Iranian-backed Hizballah, Iranian-backed Shia militias in Iraq, Iranian-backed forces in Syria, and in each case the root of the challenge stems from the revolutionary nature of the Islamic regime and their efforts abroad. And so they’re focused on doing the things they can do. I talked to – I shared with the crown prince and with the king, if I recall correctly, my conversations to help Iraq as well. We want an Iraq that is independent, sovereign, and how it is we might do that – there are lots of economic things we can do to assist Iraq in getting back on its feet, which will permit them to be more independent and have more control and be more sovereign. I shared with the crown prince my conversations when I traveled to Iraq.

So we had a chance to have a wide series of conversations about how it is – America’s continued effort on the economic and financial front – to attempt to convince the Iranian people that America is serious about empowering them and creating opportunities for the Iranian people. We talked about each of those things today.

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SECRETARY POMPEO: So, first one first: I don’t talk about CIA assessments. Second one: All of the tools that independent nations exercise to attain their independence and sovereignty, we are hopeful we can collectively – the United States certainly, but countries throughout the Middle East – I spoke with King Abdullah about this; I spoke with – I spoke with President Sisi about this. Each of those countries – I spoke – I spoke with the Emiratis about this. Each of those countries wants to do what it can to build out that independent, sovereign Iraq, to help their government get on its feet and have the Iraqi independence that we’ve been working on, the United States has been working on for now decades. And so all the tools available with regard to their security forces, yes, we want those security forces to be in the control of the Iraqi Government and we want them to have full control over all of their security forces, just in the same way we expect that of every sovereign nation.

QUESTION: But the question is more about the militias throughout – the Iranian-backed militias throughout the region.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Throughout the – that’s the region. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: You – but you talked specifically about Iraq.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Yes, that’s certainly the region, but we have – sure, you have Iranian-backed forces in --

QUESTION: Syria.

SECRETARY POMPEO: -- in Syria, you have them in Lebanon, you have them in Yemen. It’s a five-capital strategy, right? This has been the – this is the history of Iran’s efforts: five capitals. And our effort is to make sure that the Iranian people get control of their capital and that it becomes a nation that is normal and isn’t conducting terror campaigns that are unrivaled anyplace else in the world.

—Jan. 14, 2019, remarks to the press in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

QUESTION: One of the reasons you’re in the Middle East is to reassure and explain to some of our allies what the U.S. policy in Syria is. So I’d like you to do that for us today, because the Pentagon announced yesterday that it actually has begun its withdrawal from Syria, yet the U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton said that wouldn’t happen until two things: one, the U.S. defeated ISIS; and two, Turkey assured us it wouldn’t go after our Kurdish allies. Have those two conditions been met?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Margaret, the President’s guidance is incredibly clear. The roughly 2,000 uniformed soldiers that are in Syria today are going to be withdrawn. That activity is underway. We’re going to do so in an orderly, deliberate way, a way that protects America’s national security, a way that allows us to continue the important mission that they were on. The counterterrorism mission, the effort to make sure that the destruction of ISIS is not only complete but that their resurgence is not possible, our efforts to counter the threat from terrorism stemming from the Islamic Republic of Iran – those are all real missions. The tactical change we’ve made in the withdrawal of those 2,000 troops is just that, a tactical change. The mission remains the same.

—Jan. 13, 2019, interview with Margaret Brennan in Abu Dhabi, UAE

Joint Statement of the Second United States-Qatar Strategic Dialogue

U.S. Coordinator for Counterterrorism Ambassador Nathan Sales co-chaired a session on law enforcement and counterterrorism partnerships with Qatar’s Chairman of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, Major General Abdul Aziz al-Ansari. Qatar emphasized the United States’ significant role in the region and its contributions to countering terrorism and violent extremism.

The United States thanked Qatar for its continued efforts to counter terrorism, counter the financing of terrorism, and prevent violent extremism in all forms. Both sides intend to strengthen their security and counterterrorism (CT) partnership to eradicate terrorism and violent extremism. The United States welcomed Qatar’s commitment to provide $75 million over five years to the work of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, including its efforts to help Member States develop and implement advance passenger information and passenger name record systems in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2396.

They reviewed the positive progress made under the terms of the MOU on Counterterrorism signed on July 11, 2017, and the second bilateral CT Dialogue convened in Doha September 5, 2018, including the 2018 Joint Action Plan to implement provisions on border security, information sharing, countering the financing of terrorism, anti-money laundering, aviation security, cybersecurity, and judicial capacity building.

Qatar and the United States hailed the start of a robust slate of Anti-Terrorism Assistance training that began in November 2018 that will consist of 33 courses over the next four years and will provide the Ministry of Interior and Internal Security Forces with enhanced skills and abilities to detect and defeat threats from transnational terrorist and criminal organizations, with special focus on supporting Qatar’s security preparations to host the FIFA World Cup in 2022.

The two governments also noted progress on a bilateral LOI on Cybersecurity Cooperation signed at the first Strategic Dialogue by Qatar’s Ministry of Transport and Communications and the U.S. Department of State. The LOI resulted in exchanges of Qatari and U.S. cybersecurity experts and officials in the last year, the participation of a U.S. cybersecurity expert in Qatar Central Bank’s FinTech conference, and opened avenues for increased information sharing between Qatar’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team (Q-CERT) and its U.S. counterpart.

Qatar and the United States reaffirmed the need to address violent extremism through preventive frameworks. They underscored the role that both countries play in supporting the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) as well as QFFD leadership in transparency of developmental assistance and Qatar’s active membership of the Middle East North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF).

—Jan. 13, 2019, in a press release on the U.S. State Department website.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

QUESTION: But with America withdrawing from Syria – at least for the time being of course; you still have a presence in Iraq but not compared to presence in the last decade. You are determined for this but you are withdrawing from Syria. This is something you consider not contradicted, and you didn’t see it contradict also what the – Mr. Bolton’s statement regarding Turkey, same issue. But how can we understand this?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Yeah. No, there’s no contradiction at all. America supports fights against terror all around the world. Sometimes we do it with U.S. soldiers, sometimes we do it with forces from partner countries. Sometimes we do it in other ways – diplomatic means, economic means, financial means, building out coalitions. There are many tools in the power projection arsenal. And so no terrorist, no Iranian should believe that the fact that a couple thousand U.S. soldiers are going to be redeployed out of Syria in any way diminishes our commitment.

QUESTION: It’s said in the U.S., especially at the time at the turn of the former president, that our enemies don’t hear us and our friends don’t trust us. This is something I heard in previous interviews. So in that context, do you think Iran fears what’s going on now?

SECRETARY POMPEO: I want the Iranian people to know that we want a better life for them. We want the Iranian people’s voices to be heard. We want a real democracy in the Islamic Republic of Iran. And a real democracy doesn’t support Hizballah. A real democracy doesn’t support Shia militias in Iraq that are reducing Iraqi independence. A real democracy wouldn’t be active in Yemen in the way that they are by underwriting the Houthis today. We want the Iranian people’s voices to be heard, and so we don’t want them to fear us. We want them to know that we’re here, we hear them, and we want a better life for the people in Iran as well.

—Jan. 12, 2019, interview with Najwa Kassem of Al Arabiya.

QUESTION: It’s fair to say it’s more of a holistic effort to expel – I mean, the U.S. will not necessarily take the lead. This is kind of what you spoke about in taking a greater role.

SECRETARY POMPEO: That’s right. No, we – we’re happy to be an important part of it. It’s an important part of President Trump’s agenda. The nuclear proliferation risks from Iran are incredibly real. The previous arrangement that was struck was wholly inadequate to prevent those proliferation risks. And so our mission set is certainly to stop the terror regime, to stop the fighting of Hizballah and Shia militias and the Houthis, funding the Houthis in Yemen, but it has a nuclear component. And you will see in a handful of days the Iranians intend to launch a space launch vehicle, to put a space launch vehicle up. The claim is that it is to put some satellites in the air; the truth is this will be another step in their understanding of how it is you can launch an ICBM. And that’s in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, and the whole world needs to come together to oppose that.

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QUESTION: Just back to the Kurds, what are you hearing about their discussions with Damascus? Is there any way that you – that the U.S. can somehow be involved in how those talks are negotiated, or would that – you can coordinate in any way with the Kurds? Or the other one was also: What do you think about the UAE opening an embassy, an office in Damascus? Reopening.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Yes, reopening. Step back. Mission set: To create a political resolution in Syria that allows the millions of people – either the millions of internally displaced, or the 6 million of those who have fled the country – give the Syrian people an opportunity to create the political conditions on the ground they want. That requires taking down the violence, and it requires an enormous amount of diplomatic work led by Ambassador Jeffrey to get UN Security Council – not an American proposal, a – the world’s proposal – for what this political solution, this political process are to look like. That’s our mission set.

So every place we find countries who are working towards that end, we support them. And those who are working against that, those who are opposing the efforts to get the UN-led process to take down violence and get a political outcome in Syria, we’re working to convince them that they’ve got the wrong end of the stick.

And so you mentioned a couple things in particular. Those are tactical elements of this larger political process.

QUESTION: I mean, the Kurd – you obviously must be very worried about that kind of deal. And the question is – is kind of, what kind of deal are they trying to make?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Look, there’s a long history there, right?

QUESTION: Yeah, yeah.

SECRETARY POMPEO: This long predates the civil war. So we need to be mindful of the histories of these peoples as well, and respectful of that. And so the political resolution that will be arrived at if this process is successful will do that. It will honor those things that the Syrian people demand be honored. There are lots of different stakeholders. There are Christians, there are Syriacs, there are Kurds, there are Arabs, there’s a complex mess and it is this political process to get all the stakeholders at the table to hash out a good solution is the American goal. And it’s been a long process, it’s been slower than we would have wished. We hope we can turn the corner here in the next couple months.

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QUESTION: During the campaign we heard President Trump say it was important to call radical Islamic terrorism by its name, something that President Obama never did. The Vice President has used the same terms at the 9/11 Memorial this year, September 2018. In Cairo you said “radical Islamist terrorism.” Why the difference?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Radical Islamic terror – it’s a problem. We need to stop it. I’ll say it. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: Was that a conscious choice, though, “Islamic” and “Islamist?”

SECRETARY POMPEO: You are suggesting I have a better control of the English language than I actually do. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

SECRETARY POMPEO: No, there’s no difference there. Don’t – this is what – I just – I must tell you. When you try to create distinctions, when you try to call half a dozen “six” and say there are differences, that there’s variance in policy amongst senior --

QUESTION: There has been a lot of --

SECRETARY POMPEO: -- among senior --

QUESTION: Wait, no --

SECRETARY POMPEO: -- senior administration officials – this administration has been very clear --

QUESTION: There has been a lot of ink spilled about the difference between those two words.

SECRETARY POMPEO: This administration has been very clear we speak about radical Islamic terrorism. I’ll bet I can find a hundred times I’ve used it. If you’d like to test me on that, we can see.

QUESTION: No --

SECRETARY POMPEO: I’ll bet you can find it. We are very, very consistent about this. We have an understanding of what it is that has drived this threat to the United States and the world, and we are aiming to take it down, and we’ve made real progress. Rather than parsing a syllable at the end of the word, you ought to acknowledge the enormous progress we have made. Ninety-nine percent of the caliphate gone, effort underway as you sit here today to take down the remaining one percent. We’re going to do it.

QUESTION: So there was no significance to the term “Islamist” in the speech?

SECRETARY POMPEO: None.

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SECRETARY POMPEO: I’m pretty sure it’s in the diplomatic manual somewhere way back there. (Laughter.) It’s those judgments which underlaid their policies, right. If you diagnose the problem incorrectly, you get ISIS. If you diagnose the problem incorrectly, you get the Islamic Republic of Iran on the march in Damascus, in Baghdad, in Sana’a, in Beirut. This is what you get if you misdiagnose the problem. So the first part of my speech was aimed at explicating those fundamental misjudgments that were made and led to the dire situation which was – which we found when President Trump came into office. I then spent the vast majority of my set of remarks identifying how it is this administration approaches the Middle East, how important it is, how it is structurally we’re going to aim to achieve stability in the Middle East, Middle East peace – all of those things we laid out our vision for that, and importantly laid out our judgments in a different way, that said this is what we believe will lead to those right outcomes, and here’s the policies that we put in place which we hope will deliver on them.

—Jan. 12, 2019, remarks to the press in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

QUESTION: Why is religious freedom so important to the Trump administration?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Because it’s at the heart of all the freedoms that every individual should have, right? Every human being has the dignity that comes with their life and religious freedom is a central element to that. For individuals to be able to worship in the way they want or if they choose not to worship, so be it. To have that in this place too is so special, a place which isn’t everywhere here in the Middle East. For President Sisi to have done this is really special and, I think, important to Cairo, to Egypt, and to the world.

QUESTION: You mentioned him in your speech as well. Do you see him as a model of a leader here in the Middle East?

SECRETARY POMPEO: He has really taken to heart the ideal of religious freedom and he’s done so with great power and great courage, and he is to be lauded for that.

—Jan. 11, 2019, interview with Chris Mitchell of Christian Broadcast Network in Cairo, Egypt.

QUESTION: You also visited the cathedral and mosque this morning. What’s your feedback on this visit?

SECRETARY POMPEO: So it was a remarkable visit to those two beautiful places of worship, and they are a hallmark for the whole region. These are beacons of religious freedom demonstrating that here in the heart of the Middle East you can have Christians and Muslims all worshiping in their own way, in their own unique way, but do it in the sense where there is security and tolerance for each of those religions. It was important. It was a great visit, and I thank the imam and the bishop for hosting me.

QUESTION: Along your strategic relationship with Egypt, do you see a need now for an upgrade for the military assistance to meet with the current threats from the terrorist groups?

SECRETARY POMPEO: So there is always work to do. Indeed, the remarks that I gave yesterday focused in good part on this threat from extremism. The Egyptians have been great partners in that. We now have work to do not only here but all across the region to create the conditions where the threats that come from the world’s largest state sponsor of terror country in the world, Iran, threats that come from Daesh, each of those threats can be handled in a comprehensive way, so people in the Middle East can live in peace and harmony and live their lives the way that they want to.

QUESTION: Why are you still not designating or reluctant to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group when you personally cosponsored the Congress designation bill in 2015? President Trump talked about this and his willingness among other U.S. officials who also pointed on this issue.

SECRETARY POMPEO: So it’s something we look at constantly. There has been no nation that rivals what the United States has done in terms of applying security pressure, financial pressure, economic pressure, on all of those elements, whether it be al-Qaida or HTS, any extremist group. The United States is leading the effort to push back against them. We understand that absent a comprehensive effort against extremism the world will be a less safe and prosperous place, and Egypt will suffer from that as well.

QUESTION: Yes, but do you share the same views expressed by former Secretary of State Tillerson June 2017, when he stated that it is a problematic issue to designate the MBs because some of them are already occupying posts in government, like in Turkey for example?

SECRETARY POMPEO: So you saw what I did when I was a member of Congress.

QUESTION: Yes, I did.

SECRETARY POMPEO: We need to build a broad consensus in the United States on all issues related to sanctions. We’re working to do that.

QUESTION: Okay. President Trump announced a full defeat of Daesh, however reports stated that regional countries are the main funding streams. There must be also – there must be always a funding channel for the terrorist groups. President Trump pointed or called on Qatar once. The administration called another time on Qatar when – to stop funding through Iranian militias, many of them regarded, of course, as terrorist organizations by Washington. How are you going to deal with that – the countries, the regional countries who are accused of supporting terrorist groups in the area and abroad as well?

SECRETARY POMPEO: It’s a great question. We are working to cut off funding for terror groups wherever the source of those funds. We have now put in place the largest sanctions in history against the Islamic Republic of Iran, a place from which much terror is generated. But make no mistake about it, the United States is equal opportunity when it comes to pushing back against terror finance. Whether that terror finance stems from Qatar, from Saudi Arabia, from the Emirates, from Egypt, from anyplace in the world, we are diligent. Your point is exactly right. Absent the financial capacity to fuel this extremism we can reduce the risk, and so that is certainly one of the central aims of this administration, to cut off the financial ties to terror that emanate frankly not only from the Middle East but from all across the world.

—Jan. 11, 2019, interview with Amal Roushdy of Egyptian State Television.

A Force for Good: America Reinvigorated in the Middle East

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJBXrwtQR0Y&feature=emb_title

“We grossly underestimated the tenacity and viciousness of radical Islamism, a debauched strain of the faith that seeks to upend every other form of worship or governance. ISIS drove to the outskirts of Baghdad as America hesitated. They raped and pillaged and murdered tens of thousands of innocents. They birthed a caliphate across Syria and Iraq and launched terror attacks that killed all across continents.

“America’s reluctance, our reluctance, to wield our influence kept us silent as the people of Iran rose up against the mullahs in Tehran in the Green Revolution. The ayatollahs and their henchmen murdered, jailed, and intimidated freedom-loving Iranians, and they wrongly blamed America for this unrest when it was their own tyranny that had fueled it. Emboldened, the regime spread its cancerous influence to Yemen, to Iraq, to Syria, and still further into Lebanon.

“Our penchant, America’s penchant, for wishful thinking led us to look the other way as Hizballah, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Iranian regime, accumulated a massive arsenal of approximately 130,000 rockets and missiles. They stored and positioned these weapons in Lebanese towns and villages in flagrant violation of international law. That arsenal is aimed squarely at our ally Israel.

“When Bashar Assad unleashed terror upon ordinary Syrians and barrel-bombed civilians with sarin gas, a true echo of Saddam Hussein’s gassing of the Kurdish people, we condemned his actions. But in our hesitation to wield power, we did nothing.

“Our eagerness to address only Muslims and not nations ignored the rich diversity of the Middle East and frayed old bonds. It undermined the concept of the nation-state, the building block of international stability. And our desire for peace at any cost led us to strike a deal with Iran, our common enemy.”

“Let me be clear: America will not retreat until the terror fight is over. We will labor tirelessly alongside you to defeat ISIS, al-Qaeda, and other jihadists that threaten our security and yours. President Trump has made the decision to bring our troops home from Syria. We always do and now is the time, but this isn’t a change of mission. We remain committed to the complete dismantling of ISIS – the ISIS threat – and the ongoing fight against radical Islamism in all of its forms. But as President Trump has said, we’re looking to our partners to do more, and in this effort we will do so going forward together.

“For our part, airstrikes in the region will continue as targets arise. We will keep working with our partners in the Coalition to Defeat ISIS. We will continue to hunt down terrorists who seek safe havens in Libya and in Yemen. We strongly support Egypt’s efforts to destroy ISIS in the Sinai. We strongly support Israel’s efforts to stop Tehran from turning Syria into the next Lebanon.

“And as the fighting continues, we will continue to assist our partners in efforts to guard borders, prosecute terrorists, screen travelers, assist refugees, and more. But “assist” is the key phrase. We ask every peace-loving nation of the Middle East to shoulder new responsibilities for defeating Islamist extremism wherever we find it.”

“It is important to know also that we will not ease our campaign to stop Iran’s malevolent influence and actions against this region and the world. The nations of the Middle East will never enjoy security, achieve economic stability, or advance the dreams of their people if Iran’s revolutionary regime persists on its current course. 

“February 11th will mark 40 years since the oppressive regime came to power in Tehran. America’s economic sanctions against the regime are the strongest in history, and will keep getting tougher until Iran starts behaving like a normal country. The 12 demands that we stated in May remain in force, because the regime’s threat to the region endures.

“In Syria, the United States will use diplomacy and work with our partners to expel every last Iranian boot, and work through the UN-led process to bring peace and stability to the long-suffering Syrian people. There will be no U.S. reconstruction assistance for areas of Syria held by Assad until Iran and its proxy forces withdraw and until we see irreversible progress towards a political resolution.”

“And as we seek an even stronger partnership with Egypt, we encourage President Sisi to unleash the creative energy of Egypt’s people, unfetter the economy, and promote a free and open exchange of ideas. The progress made to date can continue.

“I also applaud President Sisi’s efforts to promote religious freedom, which stands as an example for all leaders and all peoples of the Middle East. I was happy to see our citizens, wrongly convicted of improperly operating NGOs here, finally be acquitted. And we strongly support President Sisi’s initiative to amend Egyptian law so that this does not happen again. More work certainly needs to be done to maximize the potential of the Egyptian nation and its people. I’m glad that America will be a partner in those efforts.”

—Jan 10, 2019, in a speech at the American University in Cairo

SECRETARY POMPEO: Just wanted to say this is a – I hope you all get a chance to see a truly remarkable place where you can see religious liberty, religious freedom at work in this special country. President Sisi clearly made a point by putting this – this largest cathedral in the Middle East – here in this place. It’s very special; it’s very warm. It’s a beautiful place, and you can see that the Lord is at work here, here in Egypt. So it’s a great chance to see it. It’s a great symbol of hope, I think, to Cairo, to Egypt, and all of the Middle East.

QUESTION: What’s the correct role of the government, the secular government, in protecting the rights of religious minorities?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Yeah, they have an obligation to make sure that every individual can choose to worship the way they want or choose not to worship in their own way. And it’s wonderful that here in Egypt that is possible. It’s pretty special.

—Jan. 10, 2019, remarks to the press in Cairo, Egypt.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry

SECRETARY POMPEO: This morning I had a chance to thank President al-Sisi for his vigorous efforts to combat the ongoing threat of terrorism as well as the radical Islamism that fuels it. His leadership, his assertion of leadership, is consistent with Egypt’s historical role as a true leader throughout the Middle East. It’s the kind of initiative President Trump asks all nations to take on for the protection of their people, and I had the chance to thank President al-Sisi for that this morning.

As I’ll talk a little bit more about in my remarks at the American University in Cairo, the United States under President Trump will remain a steadfast partner in the region for Egypt and others. We urge every country to take meaningful action to crush terrorism and denounce its ideological roots. You’ll not fight these battles alone. Our robust battle against ISIS, al-Qaida, and other terrorist groups will continue.

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QUESTION: And just finally, if I may, I want to return very quickly to this issue of contradiction. Last month President Trump said the fight against Islamic State was over, it was defeated, and he was going to bring U.S. troops back from Syria now. Since then his national security officials have said Islamic State is not completely defeated and the withdrawal will happen slowly, gradually, and based on conditions. How is this not a contradiction, or has the President changed his mind?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you for your one question. (Laughter.) Let me take the third of your single question first. There’s no contradiction whatsoever. This is a story made up by the media. That’s fine. You all write what you’d like. The President’s been very clear, and Ambassador Bolton and I have been very clear about this too. The threat from radical Islamic terrorism is real. ISIS continues. We fight them in many regions around the country.

Our commitment to continuing to prevent Daesh’s growth, ISIS’ growth is real. It’s important. We will continue at that. We’re going to do it in a way, in one particular place, Syria, and differently. The United States decision, President Trump’s decision to withdraw our troops has been made. We will do that. And so it is possible to hold in your head the thought that we would withdraw our forces, our uniformed forces from Syria and continue America’s crushing campaign where we have taken down 99 percent of the caliphate in Syria and continue that. We are intent upon that, and I’ve told each of the leaders here in the region that I’ve met that we’re committed to that.

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FOREIGN MINISTER SHOUKRY: -- just to make a comment as it relates to the fight against terrorism, and we are partners in the coalition against the fight against Daesh. But it’s always necessary, this fight, the fact that the capabilities of ISIS or Daesh have been degraded to a very large extent, but the overall network of terrorist organizations I think is – goes far beyond that, and we see that in various organizations other than ISIS or ISIS-affiliated that might be operating under various names in Syria, (inaudible) in Libya, and in the Western – West Africa – Boko Haram, Ahrar al-Sham, al-Nusrah, the Muslim Brotherhood – they all are associated to the same ideology of fundamentalism, extremism, exclusion, and they resort to violence and terrorism. Thereby, this is a threat to – that we all face and one that we are determined to fully eradicate by dealing comprehensively with all of the organizations and all of the terrorist factions that are operating in this area and in the world generally.

—Jan 10, 2019, press conference at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi

FOREIGN MINISTER SAFADI: Trilateral Jordanian-U.S.-Russian agreements is necessary to achieve these objectives. The enduring defeat of Daesh in Syria is a key common objective. The U.S.-led coalition has made great progress towards defeating the evil. Jordan and the U.S. have fought side-by-side against terrorism, not to mention we’ve strengthened this partnership. His Majesty King Abdullah II had repeatedly emphasized the need for a holistic approach against terrorists and their ideology of hate, which is outside our common humanity and has nothing to do with our Islamic faith and its values of peace and respect for the other. This is a strategy to which we remain committed.

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SECRETARY POMPEO: Your nation plays a critical role in regional security and stability, including through its efforts to peacefully resolve the Syrian conflict, fight the spread of radical Islamic terrorism, and countering the Iranian regime’s malign activities in the region and the world.

We had a good conversation today. I reaffirmed our commitment under President Trump to working with King Abdullah’s government on many of our shared priorities. The United States remains firmly committed to Jordan’s domestic stability and security, and we will undertake that work in a true spirit of partnership. Just last year, our nations unveiled a new counterterrorism training center less than 50 miles south of where we stand even as I speak. The State Department, too, was proud to fund and construct that facility through our Antiterrorism Assistance Program. It is sharpening our terror-fighting tools and helping Jordan build its already strong capacity to fight terrorism.

We also look forward to working continually to counter Tehran’s malign influence in the region. Jordan made a powerful statement by recalling its ambassador to Tehran last year in protest of the Iranian regime’s flagrant transgressions of security and sovereignty. I also want to thank the Government of Jordan for its helping in – help to combat Iran’s attempt to evade sanctions.

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QUESTION: Yes, hi, thank you. You both have spoken here about Syria, and so I’d like to ask a little bit about how we see that crisis, that situation continuing in the weeks and months to come. Minister – Secretary Pompeo, how do you intend – think you can – or intend to maintain the anti-Iran coalition with your allies here in the region, even as these same allies are welcoming Syria back into the fold, back into the Arab League and such? And at the same time, you are receiving pretty significant pushback from Turkey, which is another key player in this.

And Mr. – Minister Safadi, you spoke a little bit about the role of Jordan that you see in here, as the Americans leave. How do you see that? Are you worried about their departure? Is it premature? Do you see Jordanian troops having a role in this?

SECRETARY POMPEO: I’m going to try to take the first question first if that’s okay. The counter-Iran revolution is – our coalition is as effective today as it was yesterday, and I’m very hopeful it will continue to be effective and even more effective tomorrow. This is not just about a particular tactic that we take amongst the coalition. This is about a combined understanding that the most significant threat to the region is Daesh and the Islamist revolution, and their revolutionary efforts in the region. There is – I won’t speak for Foreign Minister Safadi, but there is enormous agreement on the risk that that poses to Jordan and to other countries in the neighborhood, and that battle continues.

Our – the President’s decision to withdraw folks from Syria in no way impacts our capacity to deliver on that, and you’ll see in the coming days and weeks, we are – are we doubling not only our diplomatic but our commercial efforts to put real pressure on Iran to achieve what it is we set out for them back in May. And these are simple asks we ask of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to behave like a normal nation, and the coalition is just as committed to it today as it was yesterday.

FOREIGN MINISTER SAFADI: Let me just say something on Iran. We all have problems with Iran’s expansionist policies in the region. We all want to make sure that whatever threat there is mitigated. All Arab counties, and I think the United States too, would want healthy relations based on the principle of nonintervention in the internal affairs of the other, and respecting the sovereignty of other countries. If that is achieved, if everybody abides by international norms of behavior, then there’ll be no problem. So for as long as there are policies that are counter to these principles, then we will continue to have issues with their policy.

On the withdrawal, I just have to say that the United States and Jordan have always been strong allies. We’ve always coordinated and we trust that we’ll continue to coordinate, and our security is something that has always been taken into account by our allies in Washington, and we trust that we’ll be – we’ll continue to have this kind of relationship.

This is a solid partnership, particularly when it comes to defense and security against Daesh, against ISIS. We (inaudible) side by side, we’ll continue to do that, and we’re fully confident that our allies and us will be able to address whatever new developments in a way that is mutually beneficial for both of us.

—Jan. 8, 2019, during a press conference at the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs