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QUESTION: We’re speaking with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Mr. Secretary, you and Senator Elizabeth Warren – former presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren – you had a bit of an exchange on Twitter. You told her that she “should review the law again – our rights under UN Security Council Resolution 2231 are separate from [the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] the JCPOA. But I’ll put you down for Chinese arms sales to Iran on October 18th. Which weapons is it okay with you if they send? A couple of divisions of VT-4 tanks good?”

Mr. Secretary, just tell me this: What is this dispute about and what are you saying and what is Elizabeth Warren’s position?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Well, President Trump came in knowing that the Iran nuclear deal was a disaster and got out of it in May of 2018. One of the reasons it was such a wreck was that most of the major provisions weren’t permanent. They began to expire. The first of such provisions expires in October of this year, just – Buck, just a handful of months away. Excuse me. So we’re going to use every tool we have in our diplomatic kit bag to ensure that come October of this year the Chinese can’t sell tanks, the Russians can’t sell armaments. All conventional arms sales that this provision prohibits today will expire and they’ll be – the world’s largest state sponsor of terror in Iran will be able to purchase those weapon systems.

And so we had a little bit of fun, but when Senator Warren said goodness gracious, you can’t use the JCPOA – we’re not doing that. The United States has an unambiguous right at the UN Security Council to keep these restrictions in place, and President Trump has made clear we’re going to make sure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon and we’re going to deny them access to weapon systems to the maximum extent feasible.

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