SAND AND SKY, ACHES AND PAINS US-Iran nuclear deal on the brink
ANGER: COUNTRY ACCUSED OF SUPPORTING TERRORISTS
Pompeo on shuttle diplomacy mission to Saudi Arabia, Israel.
Riyadh
Washington’s new chief diplomat lashed out at Iran yesterday as he met Saudi leaders and headed to Israel to rally opposition to Tehran and brief US allies on President Donald Trump’s threat to quit the Iran nuclear deal.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who set off on his first diplomatic trip within hours of being sworn in, met with Saudi King Salman after arriving in Riyadh and having dinner on Saturday with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
Pompeo was to fly on to Tel Aviv to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then head to neighbouring Jordan.
After the meetings in Riyadh, he accused Iran of destabilising the Middle East, including through its support for Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and for Shi’ite rebels in Yemen.
“Iran supports proxy militias and terrorist groups. It is an arms dealer to the Huthi rebels in Yemen and Iran conducts cyber-hacking campaigns,” Pompeo said at a joint press conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir.
Trump is due to decide on May 12 whether to reimpose sanctions on Tehran, putting in peril a landmark 2015 nuclear accord.
Pompeo said the nuclear deal “in its current form” does not do enough to make sure Iran never possesses atomic weapons.
“We will continue to work with our European allies to fix that deal but if a deal cannot be reached, the president has said he will leave that deal,” he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel left Washington this week after talks with Trump which failed to secure any promise to keep the deal alive.
“This administration has made it a priority to address Iran’s missile programmes,” a senior US official told reporters in Riyadh, condemning missile attacks by Yemen’s Tehran-backed Huthi rebels on Saudi Arabia.
The latest volley of missiles, which are in part a response to Saudi air strikes in rebel-held parts of Yemen, was fired across the border shortly before Pompeo touched down in Riyadh.
Saudi leaders will welcome US solidarity against Iran, just as Israel will want to see greater US support for efforts against Iran’s influence in Syria and Lebanon.
But Pompeo has come with requests too.
US officials have said that while Riyadh has a right to self-defence, it must see that any solution to Yemen’s civil war will be a political one and that Saudi-led coalition forces must not exacerbate the massive humanitarian crisis there. –