Qassem soleimani last week. Heres a look at his remarks. Good morning, everyone. I want to send out my condolences to former congressman fitzpatrick who passed away earlier this week, leaving a wife and family. S service to america was remarkable. If you have questions about the middle east and iraq ill take questions. But first i want to offer my condolences to the people of australia for the tragic loss of life and property caused by the devastating wildfires across the region. Americas thoughts and prayers are with the victims, families and Emergency Personnel putting their lives in harms way and the same for the u. S. Fire fighting personnel who are standing sidebyside with them. I was in sydney this summer, we have a truly greet a Great Alliance there. Staying in asia, we note appointment of the new head of the Hong Kong Central government liaison office. He hopes hong kong will return to the right path, end of quote. The right path is for the Chinese Communist party to honor its commitments made to hong kong in the joint declaration filed at the united nations, a commitment that guarantees the territorys independent rule of law and freedoms that the chinese living on the mainland unfortunately do not enjoy. We will cant continue to work with hong kong and officials to protect human rights in hong kong and promote hong kongs high degree of autonomy. In afghanistan, theres an aspect of that conflict that deserves more attention, and that is the Islamic Republic of irans involvement there. Iran refused to join the regional con sense us is for peace and is today actively working to undermine the Peace Process by continuing its long global efforts to support militant groups there. Most people know about irans proxy networks in the arab world but the regime also has a relationship with the taliban. D related groups the talibans entanglement in irans dirty work will only harm the afghanistan Peace Process. A couple of items here in the hemisphere. In venezuela, i want to thank and congratulate juan guaido, a legitimate reelection by a quorum of 100 deputies. The maduro regimes campaign of violence could not cause the National Assembly from physically barring the building. I applaud how they came together to support guaidos reelection. We will continue to support president guaido and continue to rally all other freedomloving nations to do the same. We believe the western hemisphere should be a hemisphere with freedom everywhere. I also want to highlight the work of the o. A. S. , which has been an instrumental tool in moving the region in that direction. N example of truly outstanding multilateralism. Promoting democracy and human rights. I have more to say about the o. A. S. And the multilateral form in the coming weeks. On the theme of basic prix doms, i want to commend members of the Iranian Council for their january 2 statement when they expressed deep concerns over the painful conditions to which ighur muslims in china are subjected. The Chinese Communist party is ommitting crimes against muslims held. We are happy with what bahrain did and we ask all countries to denounce the Chinese Communist partys brutal treatment of uighurs, part of their broader war on faith. Moving to europe. Many of you know, Prime Minister is in town this week, im looking forward to welcoming him here, ill be with him at the white house alongside President Trump. I want to announce our the undersecretary will be traveling to brussels and will have conversations with 28 european counterparts. This is a meeting happens about every six months. This gathering is important because it precedes a foreign ministerial on iran. On the e. U. That has just been scheduled. It shows once again our close cooperation with our European Partners on issues of mutual concern. While he is there, the issue of iran and iraq will feature prominently and they will have an opportunity to discuss syria, orth korea, and china. One more Personnel Matter i want to thank ambassador john bass who i have come to know in my time of service, both as the director of the cia and secretary of state. His tour of the service in kabul was one of our most important missions. He was a respected strenal thinker. A man of incredible integrity and has helped that country move forward to a brighter, more peaceful, and more secure future for the people. I want to welcome our new ambassadors and ambassadorsatlarge. We hope to have more follow them out into the field. I am happy to take a few questions. Reporter in honor of the new year, i have 2020 questions to ask you. I will p rambings e them down pare them down. There continue to be questions about the nature of the intelligence that led to the strike that killed general soleimani. Can you be more specific about how immanent this was and what exactly it was . Secondly, why not allow the foreign minister to come to the u. N. To speak at the Security Council . And lastly, did iran factor into your decision not to run . For the senate from kansas . Sec. Pompeo i said the same thing yesterday that i said four months, no news. For months, no news there. I will stay serving as secretary of state as long as President Trump shall have me. You can accuse me of being consistent but not on that one. Second, we dont comment on visa matters. Those traveling here to the United States on visas. I cant add much more on this issue to the Foreign Ministers travel to the United States. I will say this, we will always comply with our obligations under the u. N. Requirements in the agreement and we will do so in this particular instance and will broadly every day. There has been much made about this question of intelligence and immanence. I answered it multiple times on sunday and i will walk do it again. Through it again. Any time a president makes a decision of this magnitude, there are multiple pieces of information. We presented it in its broad detail and gave him the best information that came from the Intelligence Committee and from those of us who have teams in the field. We evaluated the relevant risks and had the opportunity that might present itself at some point and we could see clearly that not only had soleimani done all the things we have recounted, hundreds of thousands of massacre in syria, enormous destruction of countries like lebanon and iraq, with a denied sovereignty and the iranians denied people in those countries what they want. Sovereignty, independence and freedom. This is all soleimanis handwork. Then we watch and see whats continuing the Terror Campaign in the region. We know what happened at the end of last year in december. Ultimately leading to the death of an american. If you are looking for immanence, look no further. Than the days that led up to the strike that was taken against soleimani. Then in addition to that, you have what were continuing efforts on behalf of this terrorist to build out a network of campaigns that would lead potentially to the death of many more americans. It was the right decision. We got it right. The department of defense did excellent work and the president had an entirely legal, appropriate and a basis, as well as a decision that fit perfectly within our strategy and how to counter the threat of malign activity from iran more broadly. Reporter two questions. Irans Foreign Affairs minister granted an interview saying that soleimani was on a diplomatic visit to iraq and that the u. S. Strike to take him out was state terrorism. That President Trump is prepared to commit war crimes and iranians are enraged. Thats the first question, i would like your reaction to that. Second, the president indicated that irans cultural sites could be targeted. Is that true . Are they on the target list . If so, do you consider that a war crime . Sec. Pompeo the statement his first statement was that soleimani was traveling to baghdad on a Diplomatic Mission. Does anybody here believe that . Is there any history that would indicate it was remotely ossible that this kind gentleman, this diplomat, qua central qassem soleimani, was traveling to baghdad for a Peace Mission . It was not true. He is a propagandist of the first order. Most of what was suggested in that message was iranian ropaganda. Its not new. Weve heard these same lies before. S fundamentally false. He was not there on a Diplomatic Mission trying to resolve a problem. I know there was some story there was there representing a peace deal. I have spoken to my saudi counterparts at great length but i can assure you they will share my views that he was not there representing some kind of agreement that would reduce risk or reduce risk to the lives of mericans on that trip. Your last piece was about cultural sites. I said on sunday, every target reviewed, every effort being made will be conducted inside the international law. Laws of war. Ive seen it. Ive worked on on this project and im very confident of that. Reporter it is an Election Year and youre now facing two nuclearrelated crises with iran and north korea. Are you optimistic about resolving either of those without them blowing up, so to speak, at inopportune moments. On the iran front, irans breakout time when you came into office was considered to be about a year. Is it now longer or shorter . Sec. Pompeo i will wait for the Intelligence Team to talk to you about the details of irans breakout time. But President Trump couldnt be more clear. On our watch, iran will not get a nuclear weapon. As we came into office iran was on a pathway that had been provided by the nuclear deal, which clearly gave them the opportunity to have those nuclear weapons. We wont let that happen. As for the first question, what President Trump laid out was National Security with north korea and iran is the plan and strategy we excused for this for the past three years. We put iran in a place it has never been before, with a had to make choices about how to pay for and underwrite the proxy militias around the region, whether and how to build out the missile program. This is a flip to where we were. It is not political. The Previous Administration made a different choice. They chose to underwrite and peace. We chose to confront and contain. They are different strategies. We believe ours is successful and we believe it will be successful in making iran behave like a normal nation. We will deny them the capacity to build out their Nuclear Program and threaten not only americans and our lives to keep americans safe, which is our mission set, but also to create and enhance stability throughout the middle east. Were confident that thats the case. On north korea, we still are hopeful that we will be able to head down that path. I was here with you in december when there was talk about what might happen at the end of the year and that hasnt happened. We remain engaged and hopeful that with can have a conversation about how to get the denuclearization chairman kim promised to President Trump in 2018. One more. Reporter two quick things on the soleimani strike. Since the Trump Administration withdrew the United States from he Iran Nuclear Deal two years ago, the Trump Administration has said repeatedly it is pursuing against iran a maximum Pressure Campaign. First question. This soleimani operation, was that part of the maximum Pressure Campaign . Sec. Pompeo and your second one. Reporter well come back to it. Mr. Pompeo if you just ask them both. Reporter to your knowledge, was any Legal Counsel in the executive branch consulted for his or her input surrounding the legal aspects of the strike rior to its execution . Mr. Pompeo ill leave to others to comment on that. I have never seen this administration engage in activities of this nature without a thorough and complete legal review of what the bases would be if the president were to make a series of decision during the lawyers review the options presented to the president in advance of them being presented, such that every option has been fully vetted through the legal process. I am confident that is the case, although i do not have specific knowledge but i am confident that was the case. Second. You asked about the scope of the strategy and the maximum Pressure Campaign we have had in place. It has a diplomatic component, economic component and it has had a military component. What you have seen over the course of these past may of 2018 when we withdrew from the Iran Nuclear Deal you have seen us execute that with enormous vigor and energy. Youve seen it diplomatically. Weve built out coalitions around the region with israelis, ith the gulf states. On certain files, with the missile file and the terrorism file with our European Partners. Ot just the e3. Look from may of last year look at at the statement made in warsaw. A united statement centering the instability on the on the Islamic Republic of iran we iran. The coalition in the straits of hormuz, weve diplomatically isles later the iranian regime. Secondly, economically, with seen the sanctions put in place and we watched the regime struggled to figure out how it was they would ake it through 2020. They have a budget that will fall short by a significant amount in 2020 as a direct result of the pressure weve put on the regime. You saw not just this past week but over the last year, you have seen our security component to this. You have seen us reinforce allies in the region by ensuring that the emirates and saudis and all the others who were prepared for what would happen if iran decided to make choices that were bad for the iranian people. You saw more tactically the last few days, the response of the president when they made a bad decision to kill an american. We hope they wont make another ad decision like that one. Reporter to be clear. He soleimani strike was part of the maximum Pressure Campaign and they should know that some are actions like the soleimani strike could be part of this. Sec. Pompeo the president has been unambiguous both in the remarks he made in florida and the tweets he put out about the seriousness we with which we take this. Our determination that in the event the iranians make another bad choice, the president will respond in the way did he last week, which was decisive, serious and messaged iran about the constraints that we are going to place on that regime so that it doesnt continue to put merican lives at risk. Our iran policy is about protecting the homeland and securing american lives. I know the efforts we have taken not only last week with the strike against soleimani, but the strategy we have employed has saved american lives. Im highly confident of that. Ll take one more. Andrea. Yes, maam. How are you . Reporter thank you very much. A question about the issue of cultural sites. The president said coming back after you had been on the sunday talk shows that they are allowed to kill our people and torture and maim our people, theyre allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up people and we are not allowed to touch their cultural sites . It doesnt work that way. Defense secretary esper has made it clear he would not follow in order hitting a site of culture would be a war of crime. Im wondering whether you would also push back in your advice or in your role. Mr. Pompeo youre not really wondering. I was unambiguous on sunday. It is consistent with what the president has said. We will take every action we take will be consistent with the International Rule of law and the American People can rest assured that thats the case. Reporter [indiscernible] mr. Pompeo let me tell you who has done damage to the persian culture. Its not the United States of america. Its the ayatollah. If you want to look at who has denied religious freedom, denied the culture of intellect and theyve denied the capacity for the culture to continue. Going back to the holidays, the people were not allowed to celebrate. People that soleimani killed, they did not allow them to mourn their families. The real risk to persian culture does not come from the United States of america. That there is no mistake about. Thank you, everybody. Have a good day. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] our live twain 2020 feature continues. The impeachment of President Trump. Continue to follow the process on cspan leading to a senate trial. Live, unfiltered coverage on cspan, ondemand at cspan. Org impeachment. And listen on the free cspan radio app. Should iran retaliate in a way that makes the United States trigger article 5, what would natos response be then . I think the important thing now is to really try to deescalate and to avoid further increased tensions in the region. Ify start to speculate on how we will react, well not help to deescalate, it will actually do he opposite. So we call on a responsible behavior. We believe in the importance of eescalation and restraint and that is a message from all allies in the meeting today. And i will not speculate, because that will do the opposite. That will only increase ensions. Reporter whats the criticism of the u. S. By european allies during the meeting relating to the assassination of general soleimani . And what is your view, general secretary, of the killing of general soleimani . The meeting we had today was a meeting where we saw a very strong unity from all allies. On the importance of standing together in the fight against International Terrorism, on the importance of the Nato Training Mission in iraq, on the portance of the training activities and Global Coalition to defeat isis. All nato allies and nato are part of the Global Coalition and global ributes to the commission in multiple ways, ncluding troops in iraq. Mr. Stoltenberg nato allies are concerned about irans activities in the region and nato allies condemned and have condemned many times attacks on Coalition Forces by iran in support to groups and that criticism, that position was reiterated by many alyles in the meeting today allies in the meeting today. Reporter [indiscernible] general soleimani mr. Stoltenberg this is a u. S. Position. It is not a decision taken by neither the Global Coalition, for this nato. But all allies are concerned about irans destabilizing activities in the region. Irans support to different terrorist groups. And of course we are extremely concerned about the recent attacks we have seen against civilian Energy Infrastructure in saudi arabia, or against coalition bases in iraq, bases which are important for our efforts to fight International Terrorism in iraq and in syria. Time for one more. Reporter hi. Its michael with german news agency. You just said that the u. S. Briefed on the air strike against soleimani. The u. S. Justified this killing by saying that soleimani developed plans to attack american diplomats. Did the u. S. Show some evidence on that today . Mr. Stoltenberg the u. S. Provided their rationale behind the action against general soleimani. We had several briefers from the United States, from state and from the pentagon. And they briefed and explained o their allies why they took this action against general soleimani. I will not go into the details of that briefing. I will leave that to the United States. But we value and appreciate the briefings provided by the United States. I think this provides or once again shows that nato is the platform where european allies, north American Allies are able to come together and address security concerns for all of us. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] watch cspans washington journal live at 7 00 eastern wednesday morning. Join the discussion. Our Live Campaign 2020 coverage continues thursday at 7 00 p. M. Eastern with President Donald Trump in toledo, ohio, at a keep America Great rally. Watch live on cspan2, ondemand at cspan. Org, or listen on the go with the free cspan radio app. The Prime Minister of greece discussed relations with the u. S. And the rest of europe at the Atlantic Council in washington, d. C. He also talked about nato and the u. S. Drone strike on the iranian general