Ask Mike Pompeo if there is a risk of an all-out Middle East war, and he not only corrects you; he raises the stakes.
"Oh goodness, I think it's far worse than that. That's a global war. Make no mistake about it," he tells The National during an interview in New York.
Mr Pompeo, who was CIA director and then secretary of state during US President Donald Trump's first term, ties Tehran, Beijing and Moscow into a single axis and points to new intelligence he says only strengthens the picture.
"I saw reporting today that the Chinese are preparing to ship missile systems, anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran. They deny it, that makes me believe it's probably more true than not."
Mr Pompeo has never hidden his frustration with how the current US administration has handled Iran. He was publicly critical in May, calling the White House's posture nowhere close to "America First".
When pressed on the terms on the table – a $300 billion offer, sanctions relief and a rollback he had already condemned as contrary to the America First agenda, Mr Pompeo did not back down. Instead, his response hardened.
"I hope we're going to go after the banks that are continuing to underwrite. I hope we will go after Russians that are continuing to buy the crude oil. The Chinese Communist Party continues to try to evade these sanctions, moving product not through the Strait [of Hormuz] but through other mechanisms," he says.
The pressure is working, he insists – even if it's invisible from the outside.
"That economic power that we have is having a real impact inside of Iran. Make no mistake about it. We don't see it. We don't hear it … I can assure you that the store shelves in Iran are less well-stocked today. The lives of people in Iran are less well-off today," Mr Pompeo adds.
Ask him if the US intends to finish the job, and there's no daylight for interpretation.
"There's no other option," he says.
The road map
Mr Pompeo will not estimate a timeline for a road map for de-escalation or a settlement of the war. He gives a formula instead: economic pressure, diplomatic outreach, and military pressure run together, without a pause.
"Economic pressure, diplomatic outreach, by the way, not just to the Iranian regime, but to the Gulf states, to the Europeans, to say, hey, you guys can get your act together too. This impacts you … and then, finally continued military pressure," he says.
On targets, he draws a hard line: "I'm not talking about civilian targets. We should avoid that desperately, for all the right reasons."
But the military infrastructure, he adds, is fair game – down to the wiring harness factories feeding Iran's defence systems.
"We should do it at night when there's no civilians. We should warn them … but the entire military infrastructure should be defeated. That's the path."
Why Iran is hitting the Gulf, not Israel
Mr Pompeo reads Iran's choices of targets as a tell. Tehran is not striking Israel – it is striking its neighbours, and he says that's deliberate.
"Why are they firing at their Muslim brothers and not the Jews in Israel? It's because they think that those nations won't stand up to them and defend … put the Kuwaitis first and the Bahrainis first."
He expects that the Gulf states will not remain on the sidelines.
"I think what you will see is you will see the Gulf states come to recognise that that is not a plausible path forward for them, and they will join the United States to deliver what will be a blow which will fundamentally change the nature of what's going on inside of Iran."
Europe: pat on the back, kick in the behind
"I'm always hopeful," Mr Pompeo says when asked whether he doubts the spine of the Europeans.
He credits Europe's stand against Russian President Vladimir Putin. "The strategic defeat of Vladimir Putin's political objective to make Ukraine a non-independent enterprise. That's a victory, no doubt about it," he says.
"I think they should give themselves a pat on the back, then they should kick themselves in the butt and do some more."
With oil prices at $100 a barrel and the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab Al Mandeb strait effectively closed, the situation was described to him as a beating rather than a mere setback. He agreed, but added a caveat, saying: “I would concur, but these are these are 27 independent political operations."
Netanyahu and Trump: no daylight
Asked if he sensed any real divergence between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, Mr Pompeo says: "Oh, there'll always be differences. There were differences in my term, right? I mean, we are two very different nations, threatened in different ways, and so there'll always be tactical disagreements."
But on the objective, he is unequivocal.
"Do we share the joint objectives of changing the nature of the regime in Iran so that it doesn't threaten to build a nuclear weapon and a ballistic missile program and conduct terror in the United States, I don't think there's an inch of daylight," he says.
A free Strait of Hormuz
Asked if the world will end up with a free and open Strait of Hormuz, Mr Pompeo is prompt to say, "yes".
But what makes him so sure?
"The alternative is unthinkable … to think that you are going to rent the Strait of Hormuz from the Iranians for the next decade, it's unworkable. It's unworkable for the Gulf Arab states. It's unworkable for the United States. Its unworkable for everyone."
