BRAIN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): So Mr. Secretary, we understand that it's going to be an intense day today. Word is out that the Pentagon is asking for 5,000 troops to go into the region, it's revolving around the threat that you know about coming from Iran. What could you tell us here today?
MIKE POMPEO (SECRETARY OF STATE): So, the threat is real. It's been credible. Without getting into specifics, you can be sure that President Trump will ensure that we have all the resources necessary to respond in the event that the Islamic Republic of Iran should decide to attack Americans or American interests or some of our great soldiers, sailors, airmen, or Marines that are serving in that region, or the diplomats serving in Iraq or elsewhere. The exact force posture the president is looking at every day. We're evaluating the risks, making sure that we have it right. This is an important mission. We have 40 years of terror coming out of the Islamic Republic of Iran and President Trump is determined to change the course of that regime.
STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): There are stories that in the country of Iran, the sanctions have taken such a toll and the people are desperate. I mean, there's a lot going on, there's a lot of unrest in the country. So ultimately, the sanctions are working, the question is what do they do next.
POMPEO: Yeah. The sanctions have certainly had their intended effect. They have put constraints on the leadership in Iran's ability to foment terror. There are Hezbollah soldiers who are no longer being paid, or being paid a fraction of what they were being paid before. Their ability to expand their terror network around has been reduced. The previous administration took a different path. They underwrote that government, giving them hundreds of billions of dollars and the ability to put the terror team in place that we're seeing today, the very terror threat that we're facing. President Trump's taken a very different course of action. We are determined to stop not only their nuclear program and from them ever getting a nuclear weapon, but to prevent them from building up their missile program and conducting terror campaigns.
AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): So the sanctions are working and they are retaliating as a result?
POMPEO: Yeah. I think that's true. It's a little more complicated than that in the sense of -- you have to remember the history, they killed 600 American soldiers long before our pressure.
EARHARDT: Just the ones that are unclassified that we know about.
POMPEO: That's right. Just before the pressure campaign, they blew up an embassy. There is a long history of Iranian terror that long predates our sanctions efforts. So, this isn't just about our sanctions. This is about the nature of this theocratic regime, these kleptocrats in Tehran. We're determined to push back against them.
