Pompeo becomes US Secretary of State as North Korea, Middle East issues await

WASHINGTON (Reuters): The US Senate confirmed Mike Pompeo as President Donald Trump’s secretary of state on Thursday, and the former CIA director set off immediately on a trip to meet key allies in Europe and the Middle East.

Pompeo, a former Army officer who was a Republican congressman, is regarded as a Trump loyalist with hawkish world views.

Pompeo is already deeply involved in diplomacy. Trump sent him to North Korea three weeks ago to meet with the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, ahead of a summit with the US president to address Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.

Moments after Pompeo was sworn in, the State Department said he would visit Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel during the weekend after attending a NATO meeting on Friday in Brussels.

Pompeo picked those three Middle East stops “because of all that is going on,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters.

Iran is likely to be on the agenda on the Middle East leg of his trip. Trump will decide by May 12 whether to restore US economic sanctions on Tehran, which would be a severe blow to the 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six major powers.

Pompeo is to meet with Saudi King Salman, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an Jordanian King Abdullah, Nauert said.

Senators in the Republican-controlled chamber voted 57-42 in favour of Pompeo, who had faced resistance from Democrats worried about his reputation for hawkishness and past harsh statements about homosexuality and Islam.

Six Democrats and one independent who normally votes with Democrats backed Pompeo. No Republican voted no.

Pompeo will be forced to quickly address a wide array of other international challenges, including long conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, Chinese expansionism in Asia and Russian assertiveness. Washington is working with European allies such as French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the possibility of toughening the nuclear agreement with Iran.

Pompeo’s supporters said he did well during 15 months leading the CIA, and said the country badly needed a leader at the State Department. Staffing at State was slashed and many positions left unfilled under his predecessor, Rex Tillerson, a former oil executive who was Trump’s first secretary of state.

Trump, who abruptly fired Tillerson last month, welcomed Pompeo’s confirmation, saying in a statement, “Having a patriot of Mike’s immense talent, energy, and intellect leading the Department of State will be an incredible asset for our country at this critical time in history.”