Pompeo Sabotages Iran Talks with ‘Government Assessment’

June 13, 2019 (EIRNS)—By going public with a so-called “government assessment” blaming Iran, within mere hours of the attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman today, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sabotaged—for now—the prospect of U.S.-Iran talks which were just then being explored in Tehran by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with President Donald Trump’s support.

Veteran top intelligence official Col. Pat Lang (ret.) responded to Pompeo in his “Sic Semper Tyrannis” blog under the headline “ ‘A U.S. Government Assessment’ not an Intelligence Assessment?” He wrote, “Pompeo described the judgment of Iranian guilt in the Gulf of Oman burnings as ‘a U.S. Government Assessment.’ In light of the chicanery involved in the ‘U.S. Government Assessment’ after the Ghouta ‘attack’ in 2013, I would like to know how many agencies of the USIC [U.S. intelligence community] concur in the present judgment.”

But Pompeo’s stunt had the desired effect of sabotaging talks, at least for now. President Trump tweeted before Pompeo’s announcement, but apparently after being briefed on it, “While I very much appreciate P.M. Abe going to Iran to meet with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, I personally feel that it is too soon to even think about making a deal. They are not ready, and neither are we!”

Note, however, that Pompeo ended his statement by saying that U.S. policy remains economic and diplomatic—i.e., not military.