Pompeo's last-minute moves to complicate Biden's future plans: US media

While outgoing US President Donald Trump and many of his top aides seem to have left the nation's business behind, largely disappearing from view in the days since Joe Biden's election was formalized and Trump-inspired violence erupted, "one corner of the administration has moved into overdrive," the report said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has made near-daily announcements of major foreign policy actions, "many of which appear designed to cement Trump priorities and create roadblocks to new directions charted by the incoming Biden team," it said.

Among the barriers Pompeo put in place are hitting Cuba, Iran and Yemen's Houthi group on alleged terror grounds, and removing the long-standing restrictions on Washington's official contacts with Taiwan, according to the report.

"All of those changes can be undone. But each complicates the challenges Biden will face in putting his own stamp on policy," it said.

The report quoted a former senior US diplomat as saying: "I'm inclined to believe this is heavily Pompeo-driven, as opposed to Trump thinking things up."

"I believe Pompeo is laying down these markers as a campaign platform for 2024," he said.