Pompeo Says Iranian Leaders Are Aware of Assassinations in Europe

Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State, stated on Thursday, April 4, that all leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran are aware of the assassinations taking place in Europe. Pompeo made these remarks during a press conference on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington, in response to a question from a VOA Persian reporter regarding Iran's threats against Europe. The U.S. Secretary of State said, "Currently, there is a campaign by Iran for assassination and murder in Europe. All leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran, including Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, allow such events to happen." Pompeo's comments refer to the recent diplomatic tensions between various European countries and the Islamic Republic. European countries accuse Iran of bombings and assassination attempts against its opponents in Europe. France and Denmark have stated that they thwarted a plot by Iranian diplomatic and security agents to attack opponents of the Islamic Republic. In this context, Germany arrested an Iranian diplomat stationed in Austria named Asadollah Asadi in Bavaria, accusing him of providing explosives to a couple for an attack on a July 9 rally of the People's Mojahedin Organization near Paris. Iran has strongly denied these accusations. Regarding efforts to counter Iran's threats, Pompeo also stated, "I have repeatedly said what the threats of the Islamic Republic of Iran are, and there are many threats, but we have only asked the Islamic Republic of Iran to behave normally like other countries." He continued, "We are working with all our allies to neutralize Iran's threats and, on the other hand, we are taking deterrent actions. We impose sanctions so that Iran does not have resources for such behaviors." Pompeo also urged NATO members to adapt to a range of new threats, including more aggressive policies from Russia and China and uncontrolled migration. He said, "We in NATO have rightly pursued peace through power projection. We must continue this, especially in this era of competition for power from Russia, China, and Iran." Pompeo made these points during the opening speech of the NATO foreign ministers' meeting held in Washington to mark the 70th anniversary of the organization's founding. He stated, "We must align our unity against new threats, including Russian aggression, uncontrolled migration, cyberattacks, threats to energy security, and strategic competition with China in the field of 5G communications technology and other areas." The primary focus of the first part of the NATO foreign ministers' meeting was countering Russia, including in the Black Sea region, where last year the Russian Navy seized several Ukrainian vessels and captured their personnel. Jens Stoltenberg, NATO's Secretary-General, called on Russia to release these vessels and their crews. He stated that Russia's violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is part of a "series of destabilizing actions." Washington has threatened to withdraw from the treaty this summer if Russia continues its violations. Stoltenberg added, "We will not take actions similar to Russia's behavior. Our actions will be proportional, coordinated, and measured, and we do not intend to deploy ground-launched nuclear missiles in Europe." Pompeo emphasized the need for NATO to counter the escalation of cyber warfare, including actions by China in this regard. Washington has warned its allies about the use of technologies and communication services from the Chinese company Huawei, but the majority of NATO members, which are EU countries, have not yet accepted this issue. U.S. and Western security agencies are suspicious of Huawei due to its close ties to the Chinese government, but the company has always denied spying for any country. Another area of disagreement between the U.S. and its European allies is their contributions to NATO's budget, which are below the minimum set by NATO, i.e., 2% of the GDP of member countries. Stoltenberg told reporters that all NATO members must increase their defense budgets to take on a larger share of the organization's costs. Donald Trump has asked NATO members to raise their contributions to above 2% of GDP. Last year, at the NATO summit, he stated that they should bring this budget to the 4% GDP threshold, adding that the U.S. spends 4.3% of its GDP on NATO. Trump specifically criticized Germany for not accepting a larger share of NATO's budget. The NATO Secretary-General said on Thursday that Germany has increased its financial contribution, but all NATO members must increase their shares. Stoltenberg stated that the disagreement between the U.S. and Turkey regarding Ankara's purchase of Russian S-400 missiles is not part of the official NATO agenda in Washington but will be discussed on the sidelines of the meetings. The U.S. has halted the transfer of advanced F-35 fighter jet equipment to Turkey due to its plans to purchase Russian missiles, claiming that Turkey's acquisition of the S-400 missile system would jeopardize the security of these advanced fighter jets.