J Street condemns Pompeo speech, while AIPAC welcomes it

The left-wing J Street advocacy group slams US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s speech laying out the White House’s new strategy towards Iran, saying it shows America is “almost totally isolated and is acting as a destabilizing force in the Middle East,” under President Donald Trump.

“Let’s be clear: Today, it’s the US alone that is in violation of the historic JCPOA arms control agreement.. Under the guidance of his new war cabinet, the president has demanded Iran’s complete and unconditional capitulation on a maximalist list of demands – an approach that is a recipe for confrontation and war,” Dylan Williams, the group’s vice president of government affairs, says in a statement.

“The only way now to ensure that a profoundly unfit president and his regime change-obsessed advisers cannot bring about another costly and bloody war of choice is for Congress to exercise its constitutional duty to act as a check on the president,” he adds. “Congress must make clear that the president does not now have its authorization for the use of military force against Iran.”

AIPAC, on the other hand, says it welcomes Pompeo’s speech.

“We welcome @SecPompeo’s important speech on Iran today, in which he outlined a comprehensive US policy to prevent Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon and to confront its regional aggression,” the prominent pro-Israel lobby group says in a tweet.