WARSAW, Poland -- Vice President Mike Pence used an American-convened conference on Middle East security to lash out at Washington's three closest European allies Thursday, accusing them of trying "to break American sanctions against Iran's murderous revolutionary regime."
Pence delivered his critique of the allies -- Britain, France and Germany -- in an address at a Warsaw conference organized by President Donald Trump's administration. It was a remarkable, open breach with the European nations that, along with the United States, had negotiated the 2015 nuclear accord.
All three nations argued that Trump made a grave error in abandoning the treaty last year, saying that the Iranians were in compliance even as they continued to conduct missile and space rocket tests that were not covered by the accord.
To the Europeans, it is Trump -- not the Iranians -- who was the first to break the agreement's terms. Since then, they have been trying to persuade the Iranians to continue to comply with the deal, under which Tehran gave up 97 percent of its nuclear material and agreed not to produce any significant quantities of nuclear fuel until 2030. U.S. intelligence agencies told Congress late last month that the Iranians were still in compliance.
But any effort by the Trump administration to paper over its differences was abandoned Thursday when Pence demanded that the European nations follow the United States and "stand with us" by rejecting the deal they devoted years to negotiating with former Secretary of State John Kerry and a team of U.S. officials.
Until now, Pence has largely stayed in the background of major pronouncements on U.S. foreign policy. But at the conference, his statement only widened the divide with some of the core nations of the European Union.
What seems to have prompted Pence's ire was the announcement two weeks ago that the three European countries would create a new financial mechanism -- essentially a barter system -- that would enable them to buy Iranian oil in return for European goods. That would avoid the need to finance payments through the banking system, theoretically allowing Iran's trading partners to avoid sanctions.
"They call this scheme a 'Special Purpose Vehicle,'" Pence said. Later, he added, "We call it an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU, and create still more distance between Europe and America."
His speech to foreign ministers and diplomats from about five dozen countries came hours after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dropped any remaining pretense about the goal of the conference, which had been formally described as focusing on "Middle East security."
Meeting Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, early Thursday, Pompeo said, "You can't achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran."
At the meeting in Warsaw, Iran was rarely mentioned directly in documents given to ministers and diplomats outlining the subjects for discussion, which included the future of Syria, Israeli-Palestinian peace, missile proliferation, terrorism and emerging cyberthreats. That was taken as a nod to the sensitivities of the French and Germans, who had rebuffed U.S. entreaties and sent only high-ranking career diplomats rather than their foreign ministers. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt arrived at the last minute.
Once the event got underway, however, U.S. officials made it clear that the subtext of almost every issue was Iran, including Tehran's sponsorship of terror groups and its heavy investment in a cyberforce that has attacked targets in Saudi Arabia and the United States.
"They're a malign influence in Lebanon, in Yemen, in Syria, in Iraq; the three H's: the Houthis, Hamas and Hezbollah," Pompeo said. "These are real threats; there are others as well," he added. "But you can't get peace in the Middle East without pushing back against Iran."
For Netanyahu, who is running for re-election in two months while facing the possibility of indictment on corruption charges, the meeting is a major opportunity. He hopes to use it to drive home the idea that he alone has the stature and ability to confront threats to Israel and to show that he is opening relations with the Sunni Arab states that also have an enmity for Tehran.
On Thursday morning, with Pompeo at his side, Netanyahu said the gathering provided an opportunity to show that an "Israeli prime minister and the foreign ministers of the leading Arab countries stood together and spoke with unusual force, clarity and unity against the common threat of the Iranian regime."
He added: "I think this marks a change, an important understanding of what threatens our future, what we have to do to secure it."
A Section on 02/15/2019