Pompeo to Head Home Early From Middle East Trip

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will cut short his Middle East tour and return home early due to a death in the family.

“Secretary Pompeo will return to the United States after his meetings in Muscat, Oman," State Department Deputy Spokesman Robert Palladino said in an emailed statement. “This curtailment of travel is required so that the Pompeo family may attend a family funeral.”

The abbreviated trip means that Pompeo won’t be traveling as previously scheduled to Kuwait. He’ll look to visit the country “at an agreeable time in the near future," the statement said.

Pompeo was in Saudi Arabia on Monday, where he is meeting King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nick Wadhams in Washington at nwadhams@bloomberg.net;Fiona MacDonald in Kuwait at fmacdonald4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Lin Noueihed

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