Trump to crackdown on Iran and its "terrorist minions", says Pence

He blamed former President Barack Obama for exercising leniency towards the Islamic Republic, and warned that Iran and “its terrorist minions in places like Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip” would face a much tougher approach from Washington. He suggested the possibility of new US sanctions.

In a speech light on policy detail, Mr Pence said the White House was still “assessing” the possible relocation of the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Mr Pence was addressing a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition at the end of a fortnight in which he had visited the former Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, in Germany, and a desecrated Jewish cemetery in Missouri.

According to reports, before the meeting he tweeted the Nicaraguan flag instead of the Israeli one in two messages supporting Israel. 

The tweets were swiftly deleted.

While in Las Vegas, he met Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who donated over $25 million to the Trump election campaign, to discuss the administration’s Middle East peace plan.