Pompeo calls U.S. embassy attack "state sponsored terror"
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the Tuesday attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad "state-sponsored terror" in an interview with CBS News. But he emphasized that the embassy is "safe" and that the U.S. "never contemplated" evacuating the facility.
"This is state-sponsored terror, this is Iranian terror that took place," Pompeo told CBS News' Major Garrett in his first broadcast interview since the attack.
The interview comes after an estimated 6,000 protesters gathered at the embassy on Tuesday, raging against U.S. airstrikes earlier in the week that killed 25 fighters from an Iran-backed Shiite militia in Iraq. The protesters yelled "Down, Down USA!," and several dozen managed to get into what a senior U.S. official described to CBS News as a reception area just outside the compound.
"The embassy is being monitored, it's safe," Pompeo said. "The actions that we took today were prudent ... Under President Trump's direction, our team worked together today to quickly, decisively, prudently take the responses to keep our American people safe."
When asked if the U.S. was caught off guard by the attack, Pompeo said, "We've known for a long time that there was this risk."
"It's been forty years that the Islamic Republic has been at this and we've watched them continue to take actions, we saw them take actions that killed an American in Iraq just this past week," he added.
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