March 15, 2018

By Daniel Chaitin

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman praised President Trump’s nomination of CIA Director Mike Pompeo to become secretary of state, calling him a “tremendously gifted person” who in dealing with Iran will be “a strong ally of our cause.”
During an event on Capitol Hill on Thursday, the longtime Connecticut politician explained that he “knows” Pompeo, who previously served in Congress, and said he takes “great heart and encouragement” by his nomination to replace outgoing Rex Tillerson.
The event at which Lieberman had appeared was titled, “Iran Uprising, the Harbinger of a Free Iran,” and he spoke alongside current senators from both sides of the aisle. On the issue of Iranian aggression, Lieberman said Pompeo “understands the threat they represent to our security and to our values,” according to a transcript provided to the Washington Examiner.
Lieberman called on Trump to stick to his “promises” regarding Iran, particularly his stated willingness to pull out of the Obama-era Iran nuclear agreement to remove the “sunset clause so that commitment to denuclearize or not nuclearize is permanent, not just temporary, and that it also ceases its aggression throughout the region.”
Another speaker, Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., a top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed caution about outright supporting Pompeo’s

nomination, which needs to be confirmed by the Senate, but indicated a willingness to listen.
“I want you to know I did talk with Mr. Pompeo, the new nominee for secretary of state, and we’re going to talk again next week,” Cardin said.
Also speaking at the event, via video message, was Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a leading opposition group to the Iranian regime. She noted “enraged citizens” across the country who have protested in Tehran and said, “the people of Iran expect the international community to stand by them.”