Secretary of state seeks to reassure Middle East that US is not abandoning regionUS will expel every last Iranian boot from Syria, says Mike PompeoThe US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has vowed the US and its allies will “expel every last Iranian boot” from Syria as he sought to reassure Middle Eastern nations it was not withdrawing from the region despite Donald Trump’s call for troops to return home. The US would “use diplomacy and work with our partners to expel every last Iranian boot” from Syria and bolster efforts “to bring peace and stability to the long-suffering Syrian people”, he said. In remarks aimed at Obama’s support for the Iran nuclear deal, but which could also be applied to the withdrawal from Syria, Pompeo said: “When America retreats, chaos follows. The administration’s mantra has been to assist rather than lead, and Pompeo claimed the US had falsely considered itself a “force for what ails the Middle East”. “Back on planet Earth, they will see it for what it is: a self-congratulatory, delusional depiction of the Trump administration’s Middle East policy.”

Source: The Guardian January 10, 2019 17:35 UTC