The US strategy on Iran is “simple and elegant,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview with FOX News. 

“Yeah, well, what we’ve done is really straightforward.  Our strategy is simple and elegant.  The strategy goes like this.  It says: step one, do not create wealth for the ayatollah who is wreaking havoc around the world, who is the largest destabilizing influence in the Middle East, and the world’s largest state sponsor of terror.  So our economic pressure campaign has been designed to cut off their capacity to inflict malign activity, and we’ve been very successful at that,” the source noted.

When asked whether the US escorted US ships through the Strait of Hormuz, Pompeo noted that “we are at the beginning stages of developing our maritime security initiative.  We’ll be a part of that, but so will nations from all across the world.”

According to him, the US turned to UK, France, the Netherlands, South Korea, Australia on this issue.

“Every country that has an interest in ensuring that those waterways are open and crude oil and other products can flow through the Straits of Hormuz needs to participate to protect not only their own interests, but the fundamental understanding of free and open waterways,” he said.

Commenting on the question of how the US would react if Iran tried to seize a ship flying the US flag in the strait, the secretary of state said that President Trump made it clear that when the Americans are in danger, the US will defend itself.