BY YAAKOV KATZ
Despite the withdrawal of US troops from Syria, Israel retains operational freedom to defend itself and America remains committed to closely watching the Iraqi-Syrian border to help prevent the transfer of Iranian arms into the country, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told The Jerusalem Post on Friday in an exclusive interview.
“Our administration’s been very clear,” he said. “Israel has the fundamental right to engage in activity that ensures the security of its people. It’s at the very core of what nation states not only have the right to do but an obligation to do.”
Pompeo spoke to the Post in Jerusalem shortly after completing a two-hour meeting Friday morning with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mossad chief Yossi Cohen.
Israeli politicians and defense officials have raised concerns that the US pullout from Syria will strengthen Iran. Pompeo dismissed that possibility and said that the administration remained committed – like it has been – to stopping Iran and preventing it from obtaining nuclear weapons. He said that all options were on the table in the event that Iran broke out toward a bomb.
Pompeo said that he takes Iranian threats seriously and that there is a chance that the Islamic regime will try to attack Israel in a similar way to the recent attack against the Saudis.
“I always take the Iranians at their word,” he said. “They have said that they would like to wipe Israel off the face of the earth and I think it is reasonable to think that the Iranians would contemplate an attack on Israel…
We should not suggest that this is mere bluster or threat but they are engaged in activity that creates risk certainly for Israel but we have seen what they did in Saudi Arabia and we’ve seen what they are doing today in Yemen and we watch the activities they are engaged in Syria and the Shia militias in Iraq. This is a serious threat."
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