Trump fires Tillerson: president swings axe after series of policy clashes

Trump left the White House for California, to see prototypes for his border wall. Pausing by the Marine One helicopter, he told reporters he had been “talking about this for a long time”.

“I’ll be speaking to Rex over a long period of time,” Trump said. “I actually got on well with Rex but it was a different mindset.”

He added: “When you look at the Iran deal: I think it’s terrible, I guess he thought it was OK. I wanted to either break it or do something and he felt a little bit differently.”

Tillerson has argued that the US should abide by the agreement about Tehran’s nuclear ambitions that was reached under Barack Obama in 2015. Pompeo is a longstanding opponent of the deal.

The president said: “I’ve worked with Mike Pompeo now for quite some time. Tremendous energy, tremendous intellect, we’re always on the same wavelength. The relationship has been very good and that’s what I need as secretary of state. I wish Rex Tillerson well.”