Pompeo hits back at Sanders and says the US can end war with Iran by reopening the strait and stifling the Iranian economy

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States can "absolutely" end the conflict with Iran as long as it means reopening the strait, lowering energy prices and denying Tehran the ability to threaten the world. The statement was given to Fox News' America's Newsroom program in response to Senator Bernie Sanders' proposal to suspend war funding.

Sanders, one of the most left wing of Congress, said Democrats can stop the conflict not just with resolutions, but by cutting money. According to the senator, the war cost "hundreds of billions of dollars" and the price of gasoline and other basic items soared. The numbers are from Sanders and were not verified on broadcast.

Pompeo's response

Pompeo called the idea that the United States could back down and thus see energy prices fall as "foolish." In his opinion, those on the right who criticize the effort to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon, for reasons of internal politics, do not understand how serious President Donald Trump is about protecting Americans.

The former secretary also said that a withdrawal would allow Iranians to "wait out" the end of Trump's term in power, with energy prices stuck at a high level. He said he hopes the president gets the job done and that prices come down "despite Bernie Sanders."

Economic blockade and pressure on third parties

The presenter cited a statement attributed to the Ayatollah, according to which the Iranian nation would make progress and the stage would be set for an increasingly rapid decline in US dominance, and asked whether it is possible to end the conflict and how. Pompeo responded that the United States, Israel and Gulf partners have the capacity to do so. According to him, the economic blockade and pressure on third parties not to finance the Iranian regime could strangle the country's economy.

Over time, he said, the Iranian people will find space to change the regime, and the United States will need to continue what he called hard "kinetic" work. Pompeo also cited an American action on the eve of an election, without detailing it in the broadcast, to defend that threats with defense systems and offensive weapons be responded to seriously.

Ukraine and the parallel with Iran

The program also addressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's call for air defense systems following a Russian attack. Zelensky said that most of the victims were civilians who had come to receive aid and that the Russians knew it was a humanitarian facility. The presenter reported that nine Russian bombs hit a former school used for humanitarian aid, and that dozens of people died.

For Pompeo, the problems of Iran and Ukraine are similar. He said he hoped the US would continue to do what is necessary to deter evil, without appeasing Vladimir Putin, without striking a "bad deal" with the ayatollahs and without allowing Chinese leader Xi Jinping to claim victory.

For investors, the debate places the price of energy at the center of the political dispute in Washington. On the one hand, the proposal to cut resources to end the conflict; on the other, the thesis that only sustained pressure on Tehran would reopen the strait and ease prices. Both sides, according to the broadcast, link the outcome to the cost of fuel and the American budget, variables that remain on the radar of stock markets, interest rates and exchange rates.

Automatically translated from Portuguese.