Best away leaving a lovely wife and family. I want to express my condolences to him. He worked together on prolife issues at my time in congress. If you have some questions, i will take questions today. I want offer my condolences to the people of australia for the tragic loss of and property with the tragic wildfires. Americas thoughts and prayers are with them in the personnel putting their selves in harms way and the dozens of u. S. Firefighting personnel standing sidebyside with our australian friends fighting the flames. When i was in sydney, we had a truly Unbreakable Alliance and they are great friends and we are happy to be able to help the aussies in this time of need. In asia, we noted the appointment of the new head of the Hong Kong Chinese liaison office. He has expects hopes expressed hopes that hong kong will go back to the right path in that is for the right path. Guarantee the independent rule of law and freedoms that the chinese living on the mainland unfortunately do not enjoy. Will continue to work with the communist Party Officials to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in all, and wrote and promote the high degree of autonomy. In afghanistan, there is an aspect that deserves more attention, and that is the Islamic Republic of irans involvement there. The has refused to join consensus for peace and is, in fact, today actively working to undermine the Peace Process i continuing its a long mobile effort to support militant groups there. Most people know about irans proxy networks in the arab world but the regime also has a relationship of the taliban and related groups. The taliban and their entitlement in irans dirty work will only harm the afghanistan piece process. Theuple items in hemisphere. In venezuela, i want to thank and congratulate juan guaido and his reelection, a legitimate reelection with a decorum of 100 deputies. The intimidation and bribery could not rail venezuelan democracy or nor could its use of military forces. I applaud how venezuelas Political Parties came together to support the reelection. The United States will continue guido. Port president quit peopleort the venezuelan because we believe the western hemisphere should be a hemisphere with freedom everywhere. I also want to highlight the work of the oas, who have been instrumental in moving the region in that direction. It is truly outstanding and effective multilateralism. Secretary general is the leader we need for oas to proactively address the challenges facing the region, promoting democracy, upholding human rights, fostering economic development. I have more to say about the oas in the coming weeks. On the theme of basic freedoms, i want to commend members of the Council Members for the january 2 statement in which they expressed deep concern of the inhumane and painful conditions to which muslims in china are subjected. They are recognizing what ive been saying for months, the Chinese Communist party is committing mass Human Rights Violations and abuses of a ands ethnics and other muslims held in detention. We are happy with what he did and we ask all countries, particularly those belonging to the islamic coordination to deny its the Chinese Communist party and a broader were on faith. Been to europe. Onto europe. I will have a meeting today alongside medium President Trump. The undersecretary will be traveling to brussels and will have conversations with 28 european counterparts. This is a meeting happens about every six months. This gathering is important because it precedes a foreign ministerial on iran. It shows once again our close cooperation with our European Partners on issues of mutual concern. While he is there, the issue of iran and iraq will feature prominently and they will have an opportunity to discuss syria, north korea, and china. One more Personnel Matter i want to thank ambassador john bass who i have come to know in my time of service, both as the director of the cia and secretary of state. His tour of the service in kabul was one of our most important commissions. He is a man of incredible integrity and has helped that opening move forward to a brighter, more peaceful, and more secure future for the people. Would like to welcome the two new ambassadors. Follow themave more out into the field. I am happy to take a few questions. The new year, i have 2020 questions to ask you. I will trim them down. There continue to be questions about the nature of the intelligence that led to the strike that killed general soleimani. Can you be more specific about how immanent this was and what exactly it was . Secondly, why not allow the foreign minister to come to the u. N. To speak at the Security Council question mark and lastly counsel . Erin did iran factor into your decision not to run . Sec. Pompeo i said the same thing yesterday that i said four months, no news. I will stay serving as secretary of state as long as President Trump shall have me. You can excuse me of being consistent but not on that one. We dont comment on recent matters. Matters. On visa i cannot comment more on his travel to the United States. We will comply with our obligations under the u. N. Requirements in the agreement and we will do so in this particular instance and will broadly every day. There has been much made about this question of intelligence and immanence. I answered it multiple times on sunday and i will walk do it again. Any time a president makes a decision of this magnitude, there are multiple pieces of information. We presented it in its broad detail and gave him the best information that came from the Intelligence Committee and from those of us who have teams in the field. We evaluated the relevant risks and had the opportunity that might present itself at some point and we could see clearly that not only had soleimani done all the things we have recounted, hundreds of thousands of massacre in syria, enormous destruction of countries like lebanon and iraq, with a denied sovereignty and the irradiance denied people in those countries what it is they want, the iranians denied people in those countries what they want. We know what happened in december last year and led to the death of an american. If you are looking for immanence, look no further. Then in addition to that, you have what were continuing efforts on behalf of this terrorist to build out a net campaignstwork of that would lead potentially to the death of many more americans. We got it right. The department did excellent work in the president had an entirely legal, appropriate, and a decision that fit perfectly within our strategy and how to conquer the threat, emmaline activity a malign activity. Two questions. Minister said so the money said soleimani was on a diplomatic visit in the u. S. Strike to take him out was state terrorism. That President Trump is prepared to commit war crimes and iranians are enraged. I would like reaction to that. Second, the president indicated the cultural sites could be indicated. Is that true . If so, is that a war crime . Statement the his first statement was that soleimani was traveling to baghdad on a diplomatic mission. Does anybody here believe that . Is there any history that would indicate it was remotely possible that this kind gentleman, this diplomat, qasem soleimani, was traveling to aghdad for a piece Mission Peace mission . It was not true. He is a propagandist of the first order. Most of what was suggested in that message was iranian propaganda. We have heard the same lies before. It was false and he was not there on a diplomatic mission. I know there was some story there was there representing a peace deal. Atave spoken to my partners great length but i can assure you they will share my views that he was not there representing some kind of agreement that would reduce risk or reduce risk to the lives of americans on that trip. Sites, i said on sunday, every target reviewed, every effort being made will be conducted inside the international law. I have worked on this project and am very confident of that. It is an Election Year and we. Re facing a crisis with iran are you optimistic about at ining either of those opportune moments. Sec. Pompeo i will wait for the details of the officials to talk to about the breakout time. Iran will not get a Nuclear Weapon and as we came into office, iran was on a pathway provided by the nuclear deal which clearly gave them the opportunity to have those Nuclear Weapons. We wont let that happen. As to the first question, what President Trump laid out was National Security with north korea and were iran is what we executed and the strategy that weve had for the past three years. We put iran in a place it has never been before, with a had to make choices about how to pay for and underwrite the proxy malicious around the reason and whether and how to build out the missile program. This is a flip to where we were. It is not political. The Previous Administration made a different choice. We have chosen to confront in contain. They are different strategies. We believe ours is successful and we believe it will be successful in making iran behave like a normal nation. We will hold them back from threatening americans and keep americans safe, and create and enhance security throughout the middle east. On north korea, we still are hopeful that we will be able to head down that path i was here with you in december when there was talk about what might happen at the end of the year and that hasnt happened. We remain engaged and hopeful he could have a conversation about how to get the denuclearization chairman kim promised to President Trump in 2018. Sec. Pompeo one more. Two quick things on the soleimani strike. Since the Trump Administration withdrew the United States from the Iran Nuclear Deal two years ago, the Trump AdministrationTrump Administration has said repeatedly it is pursuing against iran a maximum Pressure Campaign. First question. This soleimani operation, was that hardly maximum Pressure Campaign . Sec. Pompeo and your second one. Was anyur knowledge, Legal Counsel in the executive branch consulted for his or her input surrounding the legal aspects of the strike prior to its execution . Sec. Pompeo i would to others to comment on that. I have never seen this administration engage in activities without this nature without a thorough and complete legal review of what the bases would be if the president were to make a series of decision during the lawyers review the options presented to the president in advance of them being presented, such that every option has been fully vetted through the legal process. I am confident that is the case, although i do not have specific knowledge but i am confident that was the case. Of theed about the scope strategy and the maximum Pressure Campaign we have had in place. It has a diplomatic component, militarycomponent in a component. What you have seen over the course of these past may of 2018 when we withdrew from the Iran Nuclear Deal you have seen us execute that with in normas vigor and energy with enormous vigor and energy. Files, not just e3. Look from may of last year look at at the statement made in warsaw. A united statement centering the instability on the as lonmin republic on the Islamic Republic of iran we diplomatically isolated the iranian regime. Economically, with seen the sanctions put in place and we watched the regime struggled to figure out how it was they would make it through 2020. They have a budget that will fall short by a significant amount as a direct result of the pressure we have put on the regime. You saw not just this past week but over the last year, you have seen our security component to this. You have seen us reinforce allies by reassuring they were prepared for what might happen if iran decided to make choices that were bad for the iranian people. You saw more tactically the last few days, the response of the president when they made a bad decision to kill an american. We hope they wont make another bad decision like that one. Soleimani the soleimani strike was part of the maximum Security Campaign and they should know that some are actions like the soleimani strike could be part of this. Sec. Pompeo the president has been ambiguous about the seriousness in which we take this. We are deeply aware and prepositions preparations we have made in the event they make another bad choice that they the president will respond the way he did last week which was decisive and serious and a serious and athe message about the constraint we will place on that regime so it doesnt continue to put american lives at risk. Our iran else he is about protecting the homeland and securing american lives. I know the efforts we have taken not only last week with the strike against soleimani, but the strategy we have employed has saved american lives. Thank you very much. A question about the issue of cultural sites. The president said coming back after you had been on the sunday talk shows that they are allowed to kill our people and torture in maine our people and allowed use roadside bombs and blow up people and we are not allowed to touch their cultural sites . It doesnt work that way. Secretary esper has made it clear he would not follow in site of culture would be a war of crime. I was unambiguous on sunday. It is consistent with what the president has said. We will take every action we take and it will be consistent with the International Rule of all and the American People should be rule of law and the American People should be assured of that. If you want to look at who has denied religious freedom, per the the culture and denied the capacity for the culture to continue. Going back to the holidays, they have not omitted to celebrate, not allowed people the people that soleimani killed it did not allow them to mourn their families. The real risk persian culture does not come from the United States of america. There is no mistake about that. Sec. Pompeo thank you all. Have a good day. If you missed any of what the secretary of state had to say, you can find it on our website, cspan. Org. Type mike pompeo in the search box. We are going to the u. S. Institute of peace with a discussion of leaders of south sudan, kenya, nigeria. And we will from former secretary of state madeleine albright. We join this in progress