Pompeo bats for diplomacy

President Donald Trump's pick to become Washington's top diplomat pledged Thursday to work with US allies to strengthen the Iran deal and played down fears he is bent on regime change in North Korea.

Mike Pompeo, the outgoing director of the Central Intelligence Agency, disavowed his reputation as a "war hawk" and an anti-Muslim hardliner as he sought to woo support from senators to become the next US secretary of state.

He told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he would restore "swagger" to a State Department left in tatters by Rex Tillerson, and strengthen relations with US partners left ragged after the tumultuous first year of President Donald Trump's administration.

He promised to fill scores of unoccupied diplomatic posts, to spend time with the staff and delegate authority, saying current state department staff are "demoralized" and "do not feel relevant."

In his CIA post, Pompeo has already taken the lead in arranging a potentially breakthrough summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un on denuclearization.

With a history of provocative statements against Iran, Pompeo's nomination was seen as a sign that Trump's administration intends to rip up the accord.

But on Thursday, he strove to emphasize that he would work to "fix" the deal with skeptical European allies by a May 12 deadline.

Pompeo confirmed that as CIA director, he had seen no evidence that Iran had broken its side of the bargain, and believes that Tehran would not be able to quickly develop nuclear weapons should the agreement fail.