Secretary of State Mike Pompeo emphasised that “in the event the Iranians make another bad choice… the President will respond in a way that he did last week [ie, killing of Iran’s Qods Force commander, Qassem Soleimani], which was decisive, serious, and messaged Iran about the constraints that we are going to place on that regime so that it doesn’t continue to put American lives at risk”. Pompeo also rejected the suggestion that Soleimani had been in Baghdad on a diplomatic initiative as “fundamentally false”. Commenting on President Trump’s threat to attack Iranian cultural sites, while assuring that “every action we take will be consistent with the international rule of law”, Pompeo indicated that “let me tell you who’s done damage to the Persian culture. It’s not the U.S.; it’s the ayatollah”.