Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced $113 million in new US investments in the Indo-Pacific region Monday, including $25 million to promote digital connectivity, $50 million for energy projects, and $30 million for infrastructure.

President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence threatened Thursday to impose “large sanctions” on its NATO ally Turkey if that country does not release an American pastor currently under house arrest.

The United States and France have taken joint action to sanction individuals and entities connected with Syria’s chemical weapons program, the Treasury Department announced in a statement Wednesday.

The US government announced new sanctions Thursday against three Nicaraguan individuals in connection with ongoing violence and corruption.

The State Department released its annual Trafficking in Persons Report Thursday, highlighting the state of human trafficking across the globe by ranking countries on their efforts to tackle the issue. But the report, released as the US government faces international scrutiny for its processing of migrants along the southern border, is careful to differentiate between cases of “trafficking” and “smuggling.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told US lawmakers on Wednesday that North Korea remains a nuclear threat, but defended President Donald Trump for tweeting earlier this month, “There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.”

Libyan militia leader Ahmed Abu Khatallah was sentenced to 22 years in prison Wednesday on charges related to the 2012 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which led to the deaths of four Americans and ignited a political firestorm.

The Trump administration expects all countries to reduce their Iranian oil imports to zero or face US sanctions, a senior State Department official said Tuesday as oil prices surged.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Iranian counterpart squared off in a battle of strongly-worded statements this week, with Pompeo tweeting his apparent support for Iranian anti-government protestors, and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif lamenting a US foreign policy “in crisis.”

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters another US diplomatic employee in Havana, Cuba has suffered “health effects” consistent with those previously experienced by employees at the embassy there, following comprehensive medical evaluation.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley accused more than a dozen human rights groups of sharing responsibility for the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council, saying they opposed US efforts to overhaul the body and comparing them to Russia and China.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo commemorated World Refugee Day on Wednesday by praising the “strength, courage, and resilience of millions of refugees worldwide,” but made no mention of the Trump administration’s hardline enforcement against illegal immigration that has been widely criticized.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced the United States is withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council Tuesday, accusing the body of bias against US ally Israel and a failure to hold human rights abusers accountable.

A Facebook Live question and answer session hosted by the State Department on Tuesday promised “Family Travel Hacks,” but soon became a platform for critics to blast the Trump administration over the separation of children and parents at the US-Mexico border.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo heralded progress in the US-North Korean relationship in a speech Monday, while calling out US friends and foes alike for their trade and economic policies.

The State Department announced new punitive visa restrictions on “individuals responsible for human rights abuses or undermining democracy in Nicaragua,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement Thursday.