Soleimani killing part of new strategy of ‘real deterrence,’ says Pompeo

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday said
Qassem Soleimani was killed as part of a broader strategy of deterring
challenges by US foes that also applies to China and Russia, further diluting
the assertion that the top Iranian general was struck because he was plotting
imminent attacks on US targets.
In his speech at Stanford University’s Hoover
Institute, Pompeo made no mention of the threat of imminent attacks planned by
Soleimani. It only was in response to a question that he repeated his earlier assertion
that pre-empting such plots was the reason for the January 3 American drone
strike on Iran’s second most powerful official.
His speech, “The Restoration of Deterrence: The
Iranian Example,” focused on what he called an administration strategy to
establish “real deterrence” against Iran following earlier Republican and
Democratic policies that encouraged Tehran’s “malign activity.”
Democratic and some Republican lawmakers have
challenged the administration over the self-defense rationale supported by
undisclosed intelligence over imminent attacks. US President Donald Trump has
said the potential targets included four US embassies.
On Sunday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he had
seen no intelligence forewarning of imminent attacks on embassies.
Trump on Monday added new fuel to the controversy by
saying “it really doesn’t matter” whether Soleimani posed an imminent threat.
Pompeo said there was “a bigger strategy” behind the
killing of Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force, Iran’s elite foreign
espionage and paramilitary force.
“President Trump and those of us in his national
security team are re-establishing deterrence - real deterrence ‒
against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said.
“Your adversary must understand not only that you have
the capacity to impose cost but that you’re in fact willing to do so,” Pompeo
said, adding that the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal from which Trump withdrew in
2018 had emboldened Tehran.
“America now enjoys the greatest position of
strength regarding Iran we’ve ever been in,” he said, pointing to the damage
done to the Iranian economy by US sanctions that Trump re-imposed following his
withdrawal from the nuclear deal.
“The importance of deterrence isn’t confined to
Iran,” Pompeo said. “In all cases, we must deter foes to defend freedom. That’s
the whole point of President Trump’s work to make our military the strongest
it’s ever been.”
He cited the resumption of lethal military aid to
Ukraine for defense against Russia-backed separatists, Trump’s withdrawal from
an arms control accord with Moscow and tests of a new US intermediate-range
cruise missile.
Pompeo also pointed to increased US naval exercises
in the South China Sea in response to China’s militarization of disputed
islands and Trump’s imposition of tariffs on Chinese imports as aspects of the
administration’s deterrence strategy.
“We’re restoring credibility to deterrence,” he
said.