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 was 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 was 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” and the hardline with which he and former President Donald Trump approached 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 cancelled 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 avoid signing a new agreement with Iran to resume United States participation in a nuclear deal, claiming it would not prevent the Persian nation from developing and obtaining nuclear weapons.

“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 Thursday ahead of his visit with members and supporters of the main Iranian opposition movement, Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI.) This international trip to discuss U.S. foreign policy and show support for Iranian dissidents follows domestic stops at the Southern border in Arizona, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Houston to discuss border security, the economy and energy issues.

Pence is eyeing a 2024 presidential bid and has signaled that Trump’s decision on whether to run will not impact 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.

Pence in Albania to encourage Iranian dissidents and discuss US foreign policy