Iran’s attempts to murder former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo are real and ongoing, his successor Antony Blinken told Congress on Tuesday.

�I�m not sure what I can say in an open setting, but let me say generically that there is an ongoing threat against American officials, both present and past,� Blinken said. �We are making sure and we will make sure for as long as it takes that we�re protecting our people, present and former, if they�re under threat.�

Blinken’s statement was in response to a question by Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who asked whether the Biden administration was demanding that Iran promise �not to murder a former secretary of state.”

�They know what they�d need to do to address this problem, and that�s pretty straightforward,� Blinken said. �Within the context of any engagements we have, directly or indirectly with Iranians, one of the strong messages we send to them is, they need to stop targeting our people � period.�

According to a State Department report revealed last month, Pompeo is under 24-hour security at a cost of over $2 million per month. The report said that protecting Pompeo and former Iran envoy Brian Hook between August 2021 and February 2022 amounted to $13.1 million.

(YWN Israel Desk � Jerusalem)