It is hard to comprehend that a person like Mike Pompeo is the chief diplomat of an important country like the United States. His career is alien to diplomacy. 

Diplomacy brings to mind the profession of bringing ideas close together and resolving disputes between countries. The person credited with the post of diplomat should adopt an insightful and wise approach. But Pompeo acts the opposite.

In his speech at the Heritage Foundation on May 12, 2018, he laid out 12 conditions for Iran that were somehow viewed as a declaration of war rather than a policy approach. He said Iran must do this, must do that or else…

Also, in a speech in Brussels on December 4, Pompeo criticized the United Nations, the European Union, the Organization of American States and the African Union. He put under question the efficacy of these institutions.

Possibly, Pompeo should not be much different from his boss Donald Trump, who is on the wrong side of the history and is undermining international order through his actions and remarks. 

A diplomat must be a fixer of global problems. However, Pompeo is a breaker. Instead of healing the rifts, Pompeo divides nations.

Just recently the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, who acts under the leadership of Pompeo, threatened that the U.S. would sanction Germany if Berlin doesn’t stop supporting the Nordstream II, a gas pipeline from Russia to Germany now under construction. 

Pompeo and his boss are against any move, treaty or economic project that can help reduce tension or foster tension between countries.

In general, Trump and his soldiers like Pompeo and John Bolton are envious of countries like Russia, China, Germany, France, Iran, etc. They see them as countries that challenge the U.S. unilateralism and its military and economic power. 

Pompeo’s language is so undiplomatic that he even cannot choose vague words for his ill wills. In an interview with the BBC Persian in November last year, he said Iran must listen to the U.S. “if they want their people to eat”. It seems he enjoys to say things that enrage and frighten ordinary people.

And while Iran is repeatedly saying that it is ready to offer “hand of friendship” toward its Arab neighbors on the southern shores of the Persian Gulf, Pompeo is currently visiting one Arab country after another to mobilize them against Iran.

He is particularly pressing Qatar to join Saudi Arabia in animosity against Iran, ignoring the fact that it was Iran which opened its arms to Qatar when it was surrounded from land, sea, and air by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates in June 2017.