Pompeo, Blinken weigh in on Iran conflict, current US relations with Israel

Former Secretaries of State Antony Blinken and Mike Pompeo offered contrasting views on how the United States should handle the conflict with Iran and shape its future role in the Middle East during the recent Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) General Assembly in Washington.

The two also emphasized the importance of U.S.-Israel relations to both countries, despite their differing views on the Iran conflict.

Pompeo took a hardline stance on Iran, rejecting any concessions to the Islamic Republic of Iran. He advised “to continue to increase the pressure, broadly speaking, on the regime across every front,” including the terrorist organizations, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis.

“The economic blockade makes sense,” Pompeo said. “I would advocate going after further assets inside of Iran. They still have the capability to muck up the Gulf region and to threaten Israel. We have the capacity to, if not eliminate, at least mitigate that materially, so I would advocate for that.”

Blinken urged caution, saying that the U.S. may have to make concessions given Iran’s ability to threaten shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

He said a diplomatic solution “unfortunately is probably going to have to give the Iranians something. sanctions relief, something from the Strait itself. All of that is possible, it's doable, and I actually think preferable to escalating.”

“That coastline along the Strait goes on forever,” Blinken said. “The weapons that they have and still have and continue to produce are set back some distance, such that they can hold at risk ships going through the Strait as long as they want. And it doesn't take much.”

“I really don't see, absent a fairly massive escalation, how you're going to deal with this militarily, and I think that would be a terrible idea,” he added.

Blinken agreed with Pompeo on the need to maintain sustained economic pressure through sanctions and the blockade, but cautioned that such measures would bring the Iranian regime to the negotiating table without necessarily securing concessions.

“I think what you have to do is exert sustained, systematic pressure on them economically. And it will not be for purposes of getting to capitulate,” Blinken shared. “It will be for purposes of getting to negotiate. I don't think the Iranians capitulate easily. They will negotiate.”

Asked if he thought U.S. President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was a mistake, Pompeo responded, “Oh no. It was sheer genius.”

He said the JCPOA nuclear deal was “totally insufficient to address the larger challenges that threaten Israel and the United States and the Gulf states.”

Pompeo also said, “The world's pretty amazing about how it responds to geopolitical change. We will figure out how to provide the world's energy at an affordable price.”

He rejected the idea of making concessions to the Iranian regime.

“We should never give the Iranians a damn thing,” Pompeo said. “We certainly shouldn't bribe them into allowing freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”

When asked about the recent elections in both Israel and the United States and the future of the relationship between the two countries, Blinken emphasized the need to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.

“Israel has had a number of remarkable achievements over the last few years in the midst of the horror of Gaza. Setting back the Iranians, setting back Hezbollah, setting back but not eliminating Hamas, and so on,” Blinken said. “Their ability, or sometimes inability, to translate those tactical military successes into strategic gain is the real problem.”

He described the Abraham Accords, brokered during Trump’s first term, as the most effective tool for advancing regional peace and expressed hope that efforts to build on them could resume.

Blinken confirmed that negotiations were underway with Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords and that he had been scheduled to meet with a Saudi delegation on Oct. 10, 2023. The meeting was canceled following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which Blinken attributed in part to Hamas’ efforts to derail those efforts.

Blinken said he hoped that despite the cancellation of military aid, the U.S. “will continue in other ways as necessary to support Israel in making sure that it not only survives but thrives.”

Pompeo downplayed the importance of continued U.S. defense aid, saying the broader relationship between the two countries mattered far more.

He said that during his time as CIA director, Israeli intelligence kept him safe.

“We couldn't do the intelligence work we need to do without them. They save American lives all the time,” he continued. “I still have a death threat on me from the Iranians. The Israeli intelligence has been very helpful at making sure that I’m where I need to be and I’m not where I ought not be.”

"And you should know, you should be very proud too of what our military and our intelligence folks do too. We do really good work to help Israel be more safe and more secure as well.”