Pompeo protection extended due to Iran threats

The State Department granted government protection to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and one of his top aides earlier this month, citing concerns about threats against them from Iran, according to The Associated Press.

The news outlet, which obtained State Department notices sent to Congress last week, reported that the notices said threats against Pompeo and Brian Hook, who was former President Trump’s special envoy to Iran, were still “serious and credible.”

“I hereby determine that the specific threat with respect to former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo persists,” acting Deputy Secretary of State John Bass stated in the notice. A separate notice referring to Hook used the same language.

Pompeo and Hook spearheaded the U.S. “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran during the Trump administration.

Pompeo and former national security adviser John Bolton were previously targeted by an Iranian assassination plot, according to reports last summer.

The Biden administration launched indirect talks with Iran in April 2021, but the talks have since come to a stalemate. In a video that surfaced last month, Biden declared the talks between the two countries “dead.”

This was the seventh time protection has been extended for Pompeo, and the 10th time it has been extended for Hook since they left office, according to the AP. As a former Cabinet secretary, Pompeo automatically received government protection for a few months after leaving office, which is why there is a difference between the two.

It was previously reported by The Associated Press that the State Department is paying $2 million each month for Pompeo and Hook, who were each receiving 24-hour security as of March.