President Joe Biden has made the Middle East "less stable and secure," former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an opinion piece released on Wednesday.
Pompeo, who served under former President Donald Trump, said Biden is "stealing credit for the Trump administration's work" in the region, and "worse than that, he has squandered the momentum from the Trump administration's diplomatic and security achievements, making the region less stable and secure."
According to Pompeo, Biden's "most fatal" error "is the endless effort to induce Iran to re-enter the nuclear deal, the first version of which exposed Americans, Israelis, and all peoples of the Middle East to an Iran flush with cash for terrorism and a clear pathway to a nuclear weapon."
Pompeo went on to note that "China and Russia are continuing to bolster their respective presences in the Middle East" through long-term partnerships with Iran.
"China, Russia and Iran will drill together next month in war games hosted by Venezuela," Pompeo wrote. "Lifting sanctions on Iran, or pretending they don't exist, will only create more opportunities for the Chinese Communist Party, the Putin regime, and the regime in Tehran to work together."
Pompeo concluded: "Today President Biden is piggybacking on the Trump team's success in keeping America out of any new wars in the Middle East and setting new foundations for peace.
"Sadly, his decision to empower the Islamic Republic of Iran through appeasement increases the odds that the American people will have a new conflict on their hands. Given Biden's weakness, it will likely be the next president who has to clean up the mess."