Mike Pompeo used his first speech as secretary of state Monday to send a message directly to the Iranian leadership and its people: “Do what we want, or else!”
Speaking at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank, Pompeo rattled off a 12-point list of what he called “basic requirements” of a new way forward with Iran (really little more than a rehashing of the decades-old laundry list of Washington’s beefs with the country).
Pompeo wants Iran to give up its ballistic missile program, cease and desist its involvement in every country it’s currently involved in, completely shut down its nuclear enrichment, and at the same time release Americans unjustly imprisoned in Iran — all just because we say so.