UK is sabotaging Iran sanctions, says Pence
MIKE PENCE, the US vice-president, has accused Britain, France and Germany of trying to sabotage American sanctions against Iran and urged them to pull out of the 2015 nuclear deal.
In an unusually blunt attack on traditional allies, Mr Pence told a summit in Warsaw that the three countries were leading “an effort to break American sanctions against Iran’s murderous, revolutionary regime”.
He focused his criticism on a financial mechanism created by the three states and the EU to allow European firms to skirt US sanctions.
“It’s an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU and create still more distance between Europe and the United States,” he said.
The British, French and German governments had “not been nearly as cooperative” in backing the anti-iran policy as Israel and Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, he added.
Mr Pence said for the first time that the three countries should pull out of the nuclear agreement signed in 2015 with Russia, China, the US and Iran. “The time has come for our European partners to withdraw,” he said. The US pulled out of the agreement last year.
Other US officials, including Donald Trump, have harshly criticised the deal but have never called for the European states to leave it. A Foreign Office spokesman said: “The UK is not and has never been naive about Iran and its nuclear intentions, and while we share US concerns about Iranian regional activities and its missile programme, we believe the best way to address these
“It’s an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU, and create more distance between us’
wider concerns is while the nuclear deal remains in place.”
The Us-hosted conference in Poland was enthusiastically attended by Israel and the Gulf states, but European governments largely stayed away. Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, attended a dinner on Wednesday night but left before the main meetings yesterday.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, hailed the summit for bringing Israel together with its Arab neighbours “against the common threat of the Iranian regime”.
However, while Mr Netanyahu sat in the same room as ministers from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, none of them were prepared to hold a formal meeting.
Prince Turki al-faisal, Saudi Arabia’s former spy chief, told Israeli television there would be no peace between the states until a deal on the Palestinians.
Jared Kushner, whom Mr Trump has tasked with brokering a deal, said both sides would have to compromise.