WARSAW—Divisions over Iran are hindering the Trump administration’s efforts to build consensus with NATO allies on Middle East policy, with European powers balking at joining top U.S. officials in Poland’s capital for an event on regional security.
Washington has made isolating Tehran a focus of its foreign policy. Its major North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies, including Britain, Germany and France, seek to preserve ties with Tehran and salvage the 2015 multilateral nuclear accord from which the U.S. withdrew last year, before reimposing sanctions.
Now, this divide over Iran is on public display as officials from some 60 countries gather in for Warsaw for the two-day Middle East conference.
The two-day event, co-sponsored by the U.S. and Poland, was initially meant by the U.S. to build a global coalition against Iran. It is timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Iran’s Islamic Revolution. But major European powers balked, partly to not jeopardize relations with Iran, and over the decision to hold the conference in Poland, a country that is clashing with the European Union over its shift toward authoritarian rule.
Tehran wasn’t invited to the meeting.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said negotiations with the U.S. “will bring no result but material and spiritual harm.” His comments were read out on Iranian state television as the Warsaw conference began, and two days after Iran celebrated the 40th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution.
To the U.S., Iran is the source for most of the major problems in the Middle East—be it conflicts in Syria and Yemen or what U.S. officials call Tehran’s destabilizing influence in countries like Iraq, and its support for militias across the region, including Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“The concerns in Europe regarding Iran’s behavior in the region, its missile program and human-rights record broadly align with the U.S. administration,” said Ellie Geranmayeh, senior policy fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations.
But their approach is starkly different. “U.S. policy on Iran is so maximalist, so confrontational,” she said, while “the Europeans have tried to maintain a strong political track.”
Even Poland on Tuesday said it disagreed with the U.S. approach to Iran. Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz told reporters the nuclear pact was valuable and expressed hope the conference could help participants find common ground.
While the U.S. delegation includes Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, other major players have either refused to attend or are sending low-level delegations. The EU’s foreign-policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said she had other commitments.
Meanwhile, the level of participation from France and Germany remains unclear. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt confirmed his attendance only after the U.S. added discussions on Yemen to the agenda and was expected to leave during the day on Thursday.
The U.S. administration recently assured the conference had a broader scope than Iran, but the only agenda items for Wednesday included a quadrilateral meeting on Yemen in the afternoon with the U.K., Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., and a welcome dinner, leaving just one day for substantive talks. The plan agenda circulated to the media for Thursday listed numerous sessions but no mention of topics or participants. U.S. officials said sessions would cover Syria, Yemen, the Middle East peace process, terrorism, terror financing and cybersecurity.
main agenda item for Wednesday was a welcome dinner, leaving just one day for substantive talks. The plan for Thursday listed numerous sessions, but no mention of topics or participants.
“Iran is not a specific agenda item,” a senior U.S. official insisted in a briefing ahead of the conference. “Secretary Pompeo will certainly discuss our concerns regarding Iran’s destructive policies in the region,” the official added, “but this is simply a function of Iran’s behavior.”
Instead, the U.S. has sought to refocus the Warsaw conference to enlist European support for a number of pressing foreign-policy challenges. Messrs. Pompeo and Czaputowicz told reporters on Tuesday that the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, Syria and Yemen would all be important topics of discussions. Mr. Pompeo didn’t mention Iran when asked about his hopes for the event.
In Syria, the Trump administration is seeking help from France and Britain to take up the fight against Islamic State after Mr. Trump in December ordered the military to withdraw U.S. troops.
The U.S. is expected to discuss economic portions of its long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace plan at the conference. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also leads the country’s foreign and defense ministries, is attending. But the Palestinians are boycotting the event.
The U.S. and its European allies also disagree over U.S. support for a Saudi-led coalition’s war against the Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen, which has left thousands dead and created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Iranian analysts and officials said the U.S., despite its claim to have refocused the Warsaw agenda, will still use the event to build opposition to Iran.
“Secretary Pompeo is after building an anti-Iran coalition in the Warsaw conference,” said Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former nuclear negotiator who now teaches at Princeton University. He called the Warsaw conference a “U.S. public diplomacy campaign against Iran and not more.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has said the U.S. is trying to save face amid opposition to its conference. “The Warsaw meeting was doomed to fail before it begins,” Mr. Zarif told Iranian state news agency ICANA on Sunday.
Newsletter Sign-up
The broader agenda hasn’t swayed Tehran’s allies, either. Russia, an ally of Iran in Syria, is boycotting the conference, as are several Arab states. Lebanon won’t send representatives, its foreign minister said on Monday at a press conference with Mr. Zarif in Beirut.
The conference comes weeks after Germany, France and Britain set up a special-payments company to circumvent U.S. sanctions on Iran. But Europe’s attempts to salvage the goodwill with Iran won by the nuclear accord have also been complicated by alleged Iranian assassination attempts on its soil.
In January, Europe imposed fresh sanctions on two Iranian individuals and a wing of its intelligence services following two alleged plots on Iranian opposition figures in France and Denmark. The Dutch foreign minister recently accused Iran of conducting two assassinations in the Netherlands, in 2015 and 2017.
Iran has denied involvement in any of the incidents.
Write to Sune Engel Rasmussen at sune.rasmussen@wsj.com and Jessica Donati at jessica.donati@wsj.com
Bagikan Berita Ini
Related Posts :
Giuliani cancels trip to Ukraine to press Biden investigation | TheHill - The Hill- Trump: It would be 'appropriate' for me to talk to DOJ about investigating Biden | TheHill - The Hill
- China Holds Fire in Latest Trade Skirmish With U.S. - The Wall Street Journal
- French forces rescue American during raid to free hostages in Africa - ABC News
- Havoc in Hong Kong Legislature Over Extradition Bill - The New York Times