Rex Tillerson Dismissed; Mike Pompeo Becomes U.S. Secretary of State

After months of media speculation about Rex Tillerson's fate at the U.S. State Department, Donald Trump on Tuesday, March 13, dismissed him from his position and appointed the CIA Director as his successor. Reports had previously emerged about Mike Pompeo's transition from CIA Director to Secretary of State since the beginning of Trump's presidency. Trump stated to reporters that he had 'disagreed on some issues' with Tillerson, identifying the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) as a major point of contention. He remarked, 'When you look at the deal with Iran, I think it's very bad, but for him (Tillerson), it's not a problem. I was looking to terminate the deal or do something in that regard, but he thought a bit differently. So we did not have a meeting of the minds.' On the same day, Trump also appointed the first female head of the CIA, Gina Haspel, and thanked Tillerson for his service as Secretary of State in a tweet published on Tuesday morning Washington time. Tillerson's tenure, a former oil executive, was marked by ups and downs in his relationship with the U.S. President over the past year. Notably, NBC News reported in October that Vice President Mike Pence had to convince Tillerson not to resign during the summer, during which Tillerson reportedly referred to Trump as a 'moron.' In response to this report, Tillerson stated he never considered resigning but did not directly address the use of the 'offensive' term. In recent months, Trump had questioned Tillerson's decisions on sensitive foreign policy issues such as the North Korean crisis and relations with Iran and the JCPOA. Conversely, Tillerson had complained to the White House about being prevented from making important appointments. Furthermore, during Tillerson's leadership, a significant number of seasoned politicians and diplomats left the State Department, leading to criticism from several Republican and Democratic representatives and senators in Congress. One notable departure was Tom Shannon, the third-ranking official at the State Department and the political deputy to the Secretary of State, who resigned in January, stating he would retire.