Pompeo tries rallying foreign leaders in alleged oil attacks

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is reaching out to wary foreign leaders to frame alleged Iranian attacks in a Middle East oil shipping route as a problem for the world at large, especially for Asian countries vitally dependent on that oil.

Pompeo, in a series of Sunday television interviews, emphasized the U.S. international outreach in the wake of what the US says were Iranian attacks Thursday on two oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz.

"I made a bunch of phone calls yesterday. I'll make a whole bunch more calls today. The world needs to unite," Pompeo said. He did not say what kind of action the Trump administration envisioned.

"We are going to work to build out a set of countries that have deep vested interest in keeping that strait open to help us do that," Pompeo said.

That echoed comments from acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan this past week when he said the US goal is to "build international consensus to this international problem."