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I don’t know if the remarks by SoS Pompeo would be useful to post, but here is a link and some of it, lots more at link. Reporters are asking him questions, from today. He appears to be in Baghdad.

Remarks to Traveling Press

Remarks
Michael R. Pompeo
Secretary of State
ERT Baghdad, Iraq
May 7, 2019

https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2019/05/291545.htm

SECRETARY POMPEO: So a couple things. I actually just spoke with Foreign Minister Maas, telling him that I regret that we couldn’t make the meeting with both he and Chancellor Merkel. He understood completely. He also knows that our relationship with Iraq is important, and we’re partners in the challenges that Iran presents to Germany and to Europe as well. You’ll recall they arrested Qods Force folks not too terribly long in Germany, so he was actually happy that I was going. I promised him I’d reschedule it; we’d get it set as soon as we possibly could. He was most gracious.

So the reason we’re going is you’ve all seen the reports that there have been escalating – information that indicates that Iran is escalating their activity. I wanted to go to Baghdad to speak with the leadership there, to assure them that we stood ready to continue to ensure that Iraq was a sovereign, independent nation, and that the United States would continue to help build out partners in the region – the Jordanians, the Saudis, the Emiratis, all of the Gulf states who want to see a free, independent, sovereign Iraq. And so that’s the primary mission set.

There are also lots of business deals pending. I’m going to have the opportunity to talk about some of those, where these deals are important to Iraq – big energy deals that can disconnect them from Iranian energy, so also a central part of the conversation to be had.

And then I will obviously talk about the security situation there and the forces that we have on the ground in Iraq as well, and assure them that we’re going to continue to support the Iraqi Security Forces, the ISF – train them, professionalize them – so that the new leadership there in Iraq can have security control inside of their own country.

QUESTION: Okay. What is your response to people who say the U.S. designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization is related to these threats that we’re seeing against U.S. troops in Iraq from Iran?

SECRETARY POMPEO: I’ve seldom seen speaking the truth increase risk. This is something that – this was just calling out the truth. This is a terrorist organization. It’s killed over 600 American soldiers, continues to wreak havoc throughout the Middle East. It’s an enormously destabilizing force. It is the IRGC that is the lead element supporting what’s taking place in Gaza Strip today, underwriting Hamas. It’s the same set of resources coming out of Iran. We simply spoke the truth with respect to that designation.