Ahead of a visit to Beirut, Secretary Pompeo described Hizbollah as "a terrorist organisation - period, full stop". "This is an organisation underwritten by the Islamic Republic of Iran with the intention of the destruction of Israel and, if you listen to them closely, the destruction of Western democracy, including the U.S. as well", he continued. "We're going to be very clear about how America sees Hizbollah and our expectations about how Lebanon's success depends on - the Lebanese people will demand that a terrorist organisation not be in control of their government and not drive policies and create risk for their country as well".