QUESTION: Let’s get some insight now into the Iran issue, other situations around the globe. Joining us tonight, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Mr. Secretary, thanks for being here.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Bret, it’s great to be with you. Thank you.

QUESTION: Just listened to your boss say that you need to go to the UN and get these snapback sanctions. You’ve said that you have every expectation that the UN Security Council will do that. What makes you think that?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Yeah, Bret, I’ll head up to New York tomorrow, tomorrow afternoon. I’ll meet with the UN Security Council president and then the secretary-general will provide notification of the snapback, and then 30 days from now all the sanctions that were in place will resume. They have been temporarily paused because of the ridiculous nuclear deal, and the world will be a safer place. The Iranians won’t have the chance to have Russian air-defense systems, Chinese tanks, all the things that pose risk and instability in the Middle East. The Gulf states are all excited about – Israel is excited about it. It’ll reduce their risk and it’ll make Americans safer too.

QUESTION: So when China or Russia refuse, is the administration going to hold them accountable with sanctions too?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Absolutely. We have already done that. When we’ve seen any country violate our current sanctions, the current American sanctions, we’ve held every nation accountable for that. We’ll do the same thing with respect to the broader UN Security Council sanctions as well.

QUESTION: What does it say when you tried to get the arms embargo extended on Iran that not one European ally stood with the United States?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Yeah, Bret, it’s really unfortunate. It makes the European people less safe. Privately, these countries all tell me that they want this arms embargo extended. They want – they don’t want Iran to have these weapons but they refuse to do the courageous thing, the morally right thing, and vote in support of extending it, all for some holy grail of the JCPOA. But the world needs to know – President Trump’s made clear: We’re going to do the right thing; we’re going to keep the world safer. We hope that the Europeans will come to see it this way as well, but that will – whether the Europeans do or not, it’s never stopped President Trump from protecting America and keeping us all safe.

QUESTION: So in that vein, I mean, can the U.S. work with the Europeans when it comes to Iran?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Well, we have found places where we can do that already. So we’ve worked on – in the Straits of Hormuz, where we’ve jointly done good work to deter aggression there. So we’ve found pockets and places where we can. We have the same objectives; they just are wedded to this crazy nuclear deal. They’re trying to hang onto it. President Trump’s made clear they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon. They should come alongside us and do the right thing for the world. And this is now the fifth anniversary – the first element of the JCPOA to expire. The Islamic Republic of Iran continues to be enormously anti-Semitic, wanting to wipe Israel from the face of the Earth, the largest state sponsor of terror. We’re doing the right thing. We’re going to get these UN sanctions put back in place and the world will be safer.

QUESTION: Just so people at home know, the JCPOA is the Iran nuclear deal. Do you think the Europeans, like the Germans, want to sell weapons to Iran?

SECRETARY POMPEO: No, I don’t think that’s it at all. I think they have some odd notion that somehow this is actually protecting and preserving some risk that the Iranians will begin their nuclear weapons program. It hasn’t proven to do that. We’ve now, through the sanctions we’ve put in place tonight – over $200 billion to the Islamic Republic of Iran. That’s fewer dollars to put missiles in place that could threaten places like London or Brussels or Germany. I think the people of Europe understand this is the right thing. I think their leaders do too. We’ll lead the way.

QUESTION: Do you think the snapback, if in fact it goes forward, essentially kills the JCPOA, that that deal is done and then cannot be resurrected even if there is a president Biden?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Bret, I know this: I know that the resolutions that were put in place and have been in place for, goodness, over a decade now will be back in effect. And so, yes, I think it’s the case that all of the elements, all of the things that were waived, all of the things that Secretary Kerry and Wendy Sherman have wrought upon, the risks they’ve created in the Middle East and broader places will no longer be the case.

QUESTION: You mentioned Secretary Kerry. Last night he spoke at the DNC. One of the things he talked about was Iran. I’m going to play some things, have you react to them. Quickly, here’s the first one on Iran:

SECRETARY KERRY: For the eight years of the Obama-Biden administration, we led by example. We eliminated the threat of an Iran with a nuclear weapon.

QUESTION: How about that?

SECRETARY POMPEO: That’s just false. They didn’t lead by example; they led from behind. That was their motto. President Trump leads from the front. He’s prepared to take the courageous stands. They didn’t stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon; indeed, they provided billions and billions of dollars so that Iran could continue their nuclear enrichment program and protect themselves from attack. They put themselves on a pathway to a nuclear weapon. That’s what the deal did. We’re going to prevent that pathway from continuing.

[...]