Mike Pompeo travels to Middle East to build coalition against Iran

But even as Pompeo delivered his tough talk, he echoed U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in saying the U.S. is prepared to negotiate with Iran, without preconditions, in a bid to ease tensions that have been mounting ever since Trump withdrew the U.S. from a global nuclear deal with Iran and began pressuring Tehran with economic sanctions.WATCH: John Bolton to Iran – ‘don’t mistake U.S. prudence for weakness’ “They know precisely how to find us,” Pompeo said. A fresh round of Iran sanctions is to be announced Monday, he said.It was a week of topsy-turvy pronouncements on U.S. foreign policy toward Iran.Trump initially said Iran had made a “very big mistake” and that it was “hard to believe” that shooting down a U.S. military drone on Thursday was not intentional. He later said he thought it was an unintentional act carried out by a “loose and stupid” Iranian and called off retaliatory military strikes against Iran. On Saturday, Trump reversed himself and claimed that Iran had acted “knowingly.”But Trump also said over the weekend that he appreciated Iran’s decision to not shoot down a manned U.S. spy plane, and he opined about eventually becoming Iran’s “best friend” if Tehran ultimately agrees to abandon its drive to build nuclear weapons and he helps the country turn around its crippled economy.

READ MORE: Iran warns war would spread across Gulf, threaten lives of U.S. troops

WATCH: Trump calls Iran ‘economic mess’, says more sanctions coming Then Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, stepped in Sunday with a blunt warning from Jerusalem, where he was traveling. Bolton said Iran should not “mistake U.S. prudence and discretion for weakness” after Trump called off the military strike. Trump said he backed away from the planned strikes after learning that about 150 people would be killed, but he said the military option remained.A longtime Iran hawk, Bolton emphasized that the U.S. reserved the right to attack at a later point.“No one has granted them a hunting license in the Middle East. As President Trump said on Friday our military is rebuilt, new and ready to go,” Bolton said during an appearance with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, himself a longtime and outspoken Iran critic.WATCH: How close to all-out war are the United States and Iran? On Sunday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blamed the United States’ “interventionist military presence” for fanning the flames. He was quoted by the official IRNA news agency.Pompeo, who addressed reporters from the tarmac before he boarded his airplane in Washington, declared the goal of his talks with the Saudi kingdom and the UAE is to deny Iran “the resources to foment terror, to build out their nuclear weapon system, to build out their missile program.”“We are going to deny them the resources they need to do that, thereby keep American interests and American people safe all around the world,” said Pompeo, who was due to arrive in the region after one person was killed and seven others were wounded in an attack by Iranian-allied Yemeni rebels on an airport in Saudi Arabia on Sunday evening, the Saudi military said.

READ MORE: Trump promises to hit Iran with ‘major’ sanctions after calling off strike

The downing of the unmanned aircraft on Thursday marked a new high in the rising tensions between the United States and Iran. The Trump administration has vowed to combine a “maximum pressure” campaign of economic sanctions with a buildup of American forces in the region, following the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.U.S. military cyber forces on Thursday launched a strike against Iranian military computer systems, according to U.S. officials. The cyberattacks disabled Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps computer systems that controlled its rocket and missile launchers, the officials said.Throughout the recent crisis, Trump has wavered between bellicose language and actions toward Iran and a more accommodating tone, including a plea for negotiations. Iran has said it is not interested in a dialogue with Trump. His administration is aiming to cripple Iran’s economy and force policy changes by re-imposing sanctions, including on Iranian oil exports.