U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he would "happily" go to Tehran to address tensions between the two countries.
"Sure. If that’s the call, I’d happily go there...I would welcome the chance to speak directly to the Iranian people... about what it is their leadership has done and how it has harmed Iran," he said in an interview with Bloomberg.
Pompeo likened a trip to Tehran to how Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif communicates with the American public during his trips to the United Nations in New York. He dismissed the role his Iranian counterpart plays in setting the government’s policy, which he said is driven by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
"Foreign Minister Zarif is no more in charge of what’s going on in Iran than a man in the moon. At the end of the day, this is driven by the ayatollah. He will be the ultimate decision-maker here," Pompeo said.
