As US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reached Jeddah on Monday for talks amid heightened tensions with Iran, he said that he would seek out a "global coalition" following the dowing of an American drone by Iran.
"We'll be talking with them about how to make sure that we are all strategically aligned and how we can build out a global coalition," he said Sunday before the start of his trip.
Pompeo, who will fly to the UAE before landing in India on Tuesday, said the goal of his talks, with the two Gulf States, would be to deny Iran "the resources to foment terror, to build out their nuclear weapon system, to build out their missile program".
He, however, echoed earlier comments by US President Donald Trump, saying the US was prepared to negotiate with Iran — but only with no preconditions on Tehran's side — in an attempt to ease tensions.
Tensions between Iran and the US have been escalating since Trump withdrew the US from a global nuclear deal with Iran in 2018 and began pressuring the country with economic sanctions.
US officials have said that Washington would impose further "significant" sanctions on Iran on Monday.
Iran dismissed the impact of any new US sanctions, saying they were "just propaganda, as all sanctions ... have been imposed and there are no more sanctions left," state-run news agency IRIB quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi as saying.
"We'll be talking with them about how to make sure that we are all strategically aligned and how we can build out a global coalition," he said Sunday before the start of his trip.
Pompeo, who will fly to the UAE before landing in India on Tuesday, said the goal of his talks, with the two Gulf States, would be to deny Iran "the resources to foment terror, to build out their nuclear weapon system, to build out their missile program".
He, however, echoed earlier comments by US President Donald Trump, saying the US was prepared to negotiate with Iran — but only with no preconditions on Tehran's side — in an attempt to ease tensions.
Tensions between Iran and the US have been escalating since Trump withdrew the US from a global nuclear deal with Iran in 2018 and began pressuring the country with economic sanctions.
US officials have said that Washington would impose further "significant" sanctions on Iran on Monday.
Iran dismissed the impact of any new US sanctions, saying they were "just propaganda, as all sanctions ... have been imposed and there are no more sanctions left," state-run news agency IRIB quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi as saying.