The U.S. State Department says it's paying more than $2 million US per month to provide 24-hour security for the two men due to 'serious and credible' threats from Iran.
The U.S. State Department says it's paying more than $2 million US per month to provide 24-hour security to former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and a former top aide, both of whom face "serious and credible" threats from Iran.Former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, former Iran envoy Brian Hook said to face 'serious' threatsFormer U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo and Brian Hook are shown in Abu Dhabi in September 2019. The U.S.
The department told the U.S. Congress in a report that the cost of protecting Pompeo and former Iran envoy Brian Hook between August 2021 and February 2022 amounted to $13.1 million US. The report, dated Feb. 14 and marked "sensitive but unclassified," was obtained by The Associated Press on Saturday.
The threats have persisted even as U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has been engaged in indirect negotiations with Iran over a U.S. return to a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.As a former secretary of state, Pompeo was automatically given 180 days of protection by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security after leaving office.
Hook, who along with Pompeo was often the public face of the Trump administration's imposition of crippling sanctions against Iran, was granted the special protection by Blinken for the same reason as Pompeo immediately after he left government service. That has also been repeatedly renewed in 60-day increments.The latest 60-day extensions will expire soon and the U.S. State Department, in conjunction with the U.S.
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