The United States is working with countries around the world to combat terrorism through multilateral engagement and international organizations.
“No administration has forged closer ties in our hemisphere and alliances working on important problems like counterterrorism,” said Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo as he introduced the State Department’s annual Country Reports on Terrorism. The 2019 country reports highlight significant terrorist trends last year and take stock of U.S. and international efforts to counter terrorist threats.
Recounting successes against terrorism, Pompeo highlighted:
- Designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including its Qods Force, as a terrorist organization.
- Destroying ISIS’s physical caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
- Working with partners to pressure Iranian proxy forces, such as Hizballah.
“To be clear, there’s still counterterrorism work to do” on terrorist groups and countries that support terrorism, Pompeo said. But “we are undaunted in our pursuit of bringing terrorists to justice.”
Venezuela
Pompeo noted that the Maduro regime has “cozy ties with terrorists,” and he emphasized his support for democracy in Venezuela.
“The best pathway out of the Venezuelan crisis is through a broadly acceptable transitional government to administer free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections,” Pompeo said. “We will continue to support the National Assembly, Interim President [Juan] Guaidó and the Venezuelan people in their quest to restore democracy.”
Iran
The secretary announced that the U.S. is convening a session of the United Nations Security Council to prevent the arms embargo on Iran from expiring on October 18.
Pompeo described the U.S. efforts to work with the international community to stop Iran from being allowed to purchase conventional weapons. But he warned that the United States would act unilaterally if it had to.
“I’m hopeful that the whole world will accept the proposition that this arms embargo needs to be extended,” Pompeo said. If it is not, “not only will … [Iran] purchase high-end weapon systems from Russia and China, but they’ll sell their weapon systems all across the world too.”
China
Pompeo reported that the United States is working alongside friends and partners in “taking action to counter China’s malign activities.”
The country report on the People’s Republic of China noted that Beijing uses counterterrorism as a pretext to detain more than 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in internment camps.
“The U.S. will keep speaking up for the Chinese people. … We continue to call for the release of all of those unjustly imprisoned in China for exercising their basic human rights and fundamental freedoms,” Pompeo said.
