According to a senior U.S. diplomat, Secretary Pompeo would be emphasising two central points during his 8-15 January trip to the region: "first, the U.S. is not leaving the Middle East... second, the Iranian regime is the dangerous actor in the region. There is no greater threat to stability than the Iranian regime. The twelve demands that the U.S. has asked for remain". The senior diplomat went on to assert that "we are achieving a tremendous amount of economic pushback on Iran in response to its destabilising regional activities, far more than perhaps people expected us to. And this, I think, is having an effect on the Iranians... this is a tremendous whole-of-government approach that is really putting effective pressure on Iran for the first time in a long time".