Reuters, Washington :
The United States plans to host a global summit focused on the Middle East, particularly Iran, next month in Poland, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News in an interview to air on Friday.
Pompeo told Fox the international gathering would be held February 13 to February 14 in Poland to “focus on Middle East stability and peace and freedom and security here in this region, and that includes an important element of making sure that Iran is not a destabilizing influence.”
US President Donald Trump’s top diplomat is visiting a number of Middle Eastern countries this week in an effort to shore up support in the region amid a number of ongoing fronts, from the US troop withdrawal from Syria to the Saudi-Qatar rift to the killing of US-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Pompeo, in the midst of his eight-day trip through the region, has said that the United States is “redoubling” its efforts to put pressure on Iran and sought to convince allies in the region that it was committed to fighting the Islamic State despite Trump’s recent decision to pull US troops out of Syria.
Pompeo told Fox News the summit would include representatives from countries around the world to address Iran’s regional influence as the Trump administration has sought to pressure Tehran.
Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 Iran nuclear accord and moved to reimpose sanctions on Tehran, even as other partners in the deal, including China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom, have sought to maintain the deal.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News in an interview to air on Friday that the meeting would “focus on Middle East stability and peace and freedom and security here in this region, and that includes an important element of making sure that Iran is not a destabilizing influence.”
Pompeo, who is on an eight-day visit to the Middle East, said the meeting would “bring together dozens of countries from all around the world, from Asia, from Africa, from Western Hemisphere countries, Europe too, the Middle East of course.”
Pompeo has said during the tour that the United States is “redoubling” its efforts to put pressure on Iran and sought to convince allies that it is committed to fighting Islamic State despite President Donald Trump’s decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria.
Trump last year withdrew the United States from the 2015 Iran nuclear accord and moved to reimpose sanctions on Tehran. Other partners in the deal – including Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China – have sought to keep the agreement from unraveling, although in a shift earlier this week, the European Union moved to impose some sanctions on Iran.
Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said in a statement that while his country supported the EU’s efforts to maintain the nuclear deal, the agreement “does not stop Iran from activities destabilizing the region” and he hoped the conference would bring closer the EU and U.S. positions.
He said more than 70 countries were invited to the conference, including all EU members.
Writing on Twitter, Iran’s Zarif said, “Reminder to host/participants of anti-Iran conference: those who attended last U.S. anti-Iran show are either dead, disgraced, or marginalized. And Iran is stronger than ever.”
He went on to write that “while Iran saved Poles in WWII, it now hosts desperate anti-Iran circus.”
The U.S. State Department said there were strong shared interests in Middle East stability.
