Pompeo may be blunt ... but he has a point

For America’s top emissary, Mike Pompeo has been carving a distinctly undiplomatic path through Europe these past few days. The US Secretary of State angered the Germans by cancelling a visit to Berlin at the last minute, leaving Chancellor Angela Merkel fuming and plunging relations between the two countries into the deep freeze.

Mr Pompeo then moved on to London, where he reignited the row over the UK’S relationship with the Chinese communications giant Huawei, even as the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Mark Sedwill, was in Beijing trying to build bridges with the regime. For good measure, Mr Pompeo then laid into Jeremy Corbyn for supporting the continued presidency of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. Without mincing his words, he called such an approach “disgusting”.

Straight-talking is a characteristic of this US administration, taking its lead from the top; and the fact is Mr Pompeo was right in much of what he said. The UK does need to consider very carefully whether inviting Huawei to provide 5G mobile technology is worth losing crucial intelligence co-operation with its closest ally.

The breach with Germany seems to have been a deliberate snub by Washington to Berlin’s refusal to back America’s policy towards Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Tensions have been growing since the US pulled out of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany. Berlin considers this to be a belligerent move and has been orchestrating EU opposition to Washington.

Tehran is exploiting these divisions by threatening to resume work on its nuclear programme and the Americans are seeking to intensify the pressure by ending the waivers it allowed for certain countries, such as China, India and Turkey, to continue buying Iranian oil until alternative arrangements can be found. Washington has threatened to punish any company that continues to do business with Tehran in defiance of its sanctions.

This is getting more serious, with the Americans claiming to have “specific and credible” intelligence indicating that Iranian forces are targeting US forces in Syria and Iraq. Effectively, Washington’s European allies are being asked to choose between dealing with the US and the ayatollahs. For the UK, there is only one answer to that.