Former Vice President Mike Pence was in Albania Thursday to speak with Iranian dissidents, part of a busy travel itinerary to discuss key domestic and international issues as the Republican gears up for a possible 2024 White House bid.
Pence is scheduled to address a “Free Iran” conference hosted by the Organization of Iranian and American Communities and the Iranian American Community of Northern California. The former vice president’s visit to Ashraf-3, a base of operations for the Iranian resistance movement, is to include prepared remarks and a question-and-answer session moderated by Marc Short, his former chief of staff in the West Wing.
According to excerpts of Pence’s upcoming speech shared with the Washington Examiner, the former vice president plans to tout American foreign policy under the “Trump-Pence administration.” Specifically, Pence will herald the hawkish strategy he and former President Donald Trump implemented to reduce the national and regional security threats posed by the authoritarian regime in Tehran.
“Under the Trump-Pence administration, I am proud that America did not turn a deaf ear to the pleas of the Iranian people, and we did not remain silent in the face of the Iranian regime’s countless atrocities. We proudly stood with the freedom-loving people of Iran,” Pence will say. “We canceled the Iran Nuclear Deal, which had flooded the regime’s coffers with tens of billions of dollars, and pallets full of cash — money that it used to repress its own people and support deadly terror attacks across the wider world.”
Pence also plans to urge President Joe Biden to cease negotiations with Iran and avoid signing any new agreement with the regime that would result in the resumption of United States participation in a nuclear deal, claiming it would not prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. The Iran nuclear deal was agreed to by the U.S. and key diplomatic partners under then-President Barack Obama. Trump later withdrew the U.S. from the accord, citing Iranian violations.
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“A renewed nuclear deal won’t lead to peace and stability. It will lead to more terrorism, death, and destruction. A renewed deal won’t block Iran’s path to a nuclear bomb. It will pave a path in gold,” Pence will say. “A renewed nuclear deal won’t benefit the people of Iran in any way, shape, or form. It will empower and enrich the regime that has tormented and tortured the Iranian people for generations.”
Pence landed in Albania on Thursday ahead of his visit with members and supporters of the main Iranian opposition movement, Mujahedin-e Khalq. This international trip to discuss U.S. foreign policy and show support for Iranian dissidents follows a spate of recent domestic stops, including at the southern border in Arizona; Chicago; Cincinnati, and Houston, to discuss, respectively, border security, the economy, and energy issues.
Pence is eyeing a 2024 presidential bid and has signaled Trump’s decision on whether to run will have no bearing on his plans. The former president has ruled out tapping Pence as his running mate again should he run, although the former vice president has little interest in accepting such an assignment in any event. The once rock-solid Trump-Pence political marriage broke down over disagreements on how to handle the outcome of the 2020 election.
Trump wanted Pence to overturn Biden’s Electoral College victory in his role as president of the Senate during the counting of electoral votes during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021. The then-vice president refused, saying such a move was unconstitutional. The 45th president has refused to drop the matter, regularly criticizing Pence for an event that is nearly 19 months old. Pence discusses the matter occasionally when compelled to explain his position.
Pence emphasizes that his immediate goal is aiding Republican victories in the midterm elections. And the former vice president is doing that. He is traveling to support GOP candidates, while his political nonprofit group, Advancing American Freedom, is in the midst of a $10 million advertising campaign focused on promoting conservative policies. But Pence’s political activities, policy speeches, and travels smack of a politician preparing to run for president.
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The former vice president is making regular visits to key early primary states, such as South Carolina. In May, Pence endorsed Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who soundly defeated a Trump-endorsed challenger, former Sen. David Perdue, in a GOP primary. And this week, Pence picked sides in the race for the Republican nomination for New York governor. Pence endorsed Rep. Lee Zeldin, whose main competition is Andrew Giuliani, son of Rudy Giuliani, the former New York Mayor.
As it happens, the elder Giuliani functioned as Trump’s top legal adviser in the months following the 2020 election. He was among those in the 45th president’s orbit responsible for pushing the unconstitutional theory that Pence had the legal power to overturn Biden’s victory by unilaterally rejecting certified Electoral College votes.
