Pompeo discusses 'increasing pressure on Iran' with NATO members
Reuters news agency quoted a US administration official as saying that Mike Pompeo will discuss Iran during his meetings with the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany and other NATO countries. According to the US official, there are “more areas of agreement than differences” between Washington and European powers on Iran.
Mr. Pompeo arrived in Brussels, the Belgian capital, on July 9, where ministers and leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are meeting for talks. As reported by Reuters, the US Secretary of State is also scheduled to discuss “increasing pressure on Iran” with his European counterparts on the sidelines of the meetings and negotiations.
Before leaving for Brussels, the US Secretary of State in the United Arab Emirates had said that his country was seeking to implement a series of sanctions that would "send the Iranian regime a message that its evil behavior is unacceptable and has very real costs for them."
Since Donald Trump announced that his administration would withdraw from the nuclear agreement reached with Iran under President Barack Obama and five other countries, US officials have also increased their activities related to sanctions against Tehran.
European powers negotiating with Iran are trying to preserve the JCPOA. But given the United States' repeated warnings about the consequences of dealing with Iran, it is still unclear whether their joint efforts with Tehran will lead anywhere.
During the US Secretary of State's trip from the UAE to Belgium, a State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters that in addition to Pompeo's meetings with Emirati officials, a high-ranking delegation also met with Saudi officials. The goal of these talks was also to find "new ways to prevent financial diversion" from the Islamic Republic.
As the US State Department official said, Washington and Riyadh officials discussed "reducing potential disruptions in the oil market and helping partners find alternatives to Iranian oil imports."
The US State Department announced in early July that it was trying to “persuade as many customers as possible to completely stop buying Iranian oil.” The measures are described as part of the US’s overall policy towards Tehran, and are aimed, as Washington says, at forcing the Islamic Republic to change its “threatening” behavior and return to fresh negotiations. Tehran, on the other hand, has shown no official sign of willingness to renegotiate with the US, saying it cannot trust Washington while agreements made with the US lose their validity with a change of government in that country.
In addition to the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, the US government says Tehran is the most important state sponsor of terrorism, has developed its missile program, and its actions have led to instability in West Asia.
Tehran denies the accusation of supporting terrorism and makes similar accusations against US allies in the Middle East.
Although Europeans have repeatedly supported the nuclear deal with Iran, they have aligned themselves with Washington in criticizing Iran's missile program and regional activities.
A US State Department official who spoke to reporters on Tuesday also said, "No matter how much people write about tensions in transatlantic relations (between the US and Europe), when it comes to Iran, the agreements far outweigh the differences."
Source: Radio Farda
