US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says US is working on Iran diplomacy after ‘act of war’

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said the US is “working diligently” toward a diplomatic resolution with Iran after accusing the Islamic republic of attacks on Saudi Arabian oilfields, but that President Donald Trump is prepared to take other action if necessary.

“Make no mistake about it, if we’re unsuccessful in that and Iran continues to strike out in this way, I am confident that President Trump will make the decisions necessary to achieve our objectives,” Pompeo said on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, one of multiple TV appearances ahead of the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week.

Top Pentagon officials on Friday said the US will send a “moderate” number of troops to the Middle East and additional missile defence capabilities to Saudi Arabia in response to last weekend’s attack on oil facilities, which disrupted about 5 per cent of global oil production.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif refused to rule out military conflict in the Middle East, saying in an interview to be broadcast Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation that “I’m not confident that we can avoid a war”.

Asked whether he is confident of avoiding a war, Pompeo said, “we’re working towards that”. In an interview airing on CBS, Pompeo said the US will respond in a way that reflects what he called “an attack by Iran on the world” and a “state-on-state act of war”.