Kansas congressman Mike Pompeo, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for CIA director, is a fierce critic of the nuclear deal signed between Iran and the six world powers, and has promised to work to cancel it.
On Thursday, a day before his nomination was made public, Pompeo took to Twitter and said, “I look forward to rolling back this disastrous deal with the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.”
Pompeo has been at the forefront of the efforts against the Iran deal. This past April, he was among a group of American lawmakers who introduced legislation which would prohibit President Barack Obama from providing Iran direct or indirect access to the U.S. dollar or the American financial system.
The bill was one of a series of bills supported by Pompeo that would increase sanctions on Iran. In addition, Pompeo was one of three Congress members who petitioned Iran earlier this year to let them enter the country and inspect nuclear sites – a request that was ignored by the Islamic Republic.
Trump, of course, has publicly spoken out against the Iran deal, calling it “disastrous” and vowing to “rip it up” as president. Iranian officials have downplayed Trump’s threats to annul the nuclear deal, insisting he cannot do so even if he wishes.
One of Trump's foreign policy advisers, Walid Phares, said last week that while Trump might not actually rip up the agreement, he would act to change it.
And former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is said to be under consideration for a top stop in the Trump administration, indicated this week that Trump could cancel the Iran deal on his first day as president since he’s not bound by it. Giuliani pointed out that Trump could take this action because Obama never submitted the Iran deal to the Senate for approval.
