5:00 p.m. ET, July 20, 2019
Pompeo: No indications that Iran is prepared to fundamentally change direction
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo briefly addressed escalating Iranian tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and reiterated hopes to begin talks with the Islamic Republic.
"In the end, the Iranians have to -- the Iranian regime has to make a decision that it wants to behave like a normal nation," Pompeo said.
During a news conference with Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno from Guayaquil, Ecuador, Pompeo said there have been "no indications that the Iranians are prepared to fundamentally change the direction of their nation.
"If they do the things we've asked them to do on their nuclear program, their missile program, their malign behavior around the world -- I mean, you can just watch their actions. These are actions that threaten," Pompeo said.
"We saw the statements of (British Foreign Secretary Jeremy) Hunt, I spoke to him yesterday -- with other actions, these are not the actions of a country that looks like it's headed in the right direction but we hope as President Trump has said, that they will sit down and discuss these items with us."