Asked by Channel 4’s Cathy Newman what he meant by “crush”, the Republican said this entails destroying Iran’s proxies in Syria, Iraq and Yemen while showing Tehran that the costs of its “terror campaign” exceed the benefits.

Pompeo also criticised what he viewed as President Joe Biden’s confusion, saying the US could not claim to have an “iron-clad” defensive relationship with Israel but also demand a ceasefire. “If there had been a ceasefire when President Biden demanded, [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah would still be alive today.” He went on: “Most of the Hamas senior leadership would be alive today, there’d be 400 more Hezbollah terrorists threatening Israel today. Iron-clad? I don’t see how you hold these two thoughts in your head together.”

Pompeo’s comments come amid a significant escalation in the Middle East, with Iran firing almost 200 missiles at Israel on Tuesday night. Israel has undertaken significant successful military operations recently in Lebanon, notably planting explosives on hundreds of Hezbollah pagers and killing most of Hezbollah’s leaders. Consequently Iran vowed revenge, and after Tuesday’s barrage, Israel has done likewise with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying Iran “has made a big mistake” and “will pay”. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “deeply concerned that the region is on the brink” and that Britain recognises Israel’s right to defend itself. Defence Secretary John Healey confirmed that British forces “played their part in attempts to prevent further escalation”.

As secretary of state in the Trump administration from 2018-2021, Pompeo played an integral part in negotiating the Abraham Accords, which normalised diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Undermining this agreement is often thought to be one of Hamas’ motivations for the 7 October attack last year. As America’s chief diplomat, Pompeo also played a role in relocating the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The 60-year-old defended the Trump administration’s global foreign policy record. Not only did Vladimir Putin not invade Ukraine during Trump’s term, the Middle East was safer, Pompeo claimed. “This was our model […], we did avoid wars in the Middle East. How did we do it? We didn’t do it by saying, ‘We wish the Israelis would stand down’. We didn’t do it by saying, ‘You know, I think if we had one more round of nuclear negotiations with the Iranians they’ll shut their programme down,’” he said.

“Weakness begets danger,” Pompeo added. “And when the good guys are weak, the bad guys kill 1200 people.”

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Max Mitchell is UnHerd’s Assistant Editor, Newsroom.

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