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Pompeo to visit Brussels Monday to discuss Iran: official
WASHINGTON, May 13, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is
to visit Brussels on Monday to discuss “pressing matters” including Iran, a
State Department official said Sunday.
As a result, the top US diplomat is scrapping a stop expected on Monday in
Moscow.
But he will still head to the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday
to meet President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the
official added just before Pompeo left Washington.
An EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting is scheduled in Brussels on Monday,
but the State Department did not offer specific details of Pompeo’s revised
agenda.
It simply said talks would be held with officials from France, the UK and
Germany — the three European signatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Iran announced on May 8, one year after the US withdrew from the deal, that
it was suspending some of its commitments under the agreement.
President Hassan Rouhani issued an ultimatum to the Europeans, threatening
that Iran would go further if they fail to deliver sanctions relief to
counterbalance US President Donald Trump’s renewed assault on the Iranian
economy within 60 days.
The European powers rejected that ultimatum.
The US has continued to build pressure on Iran, with Pompeo accusing Tehran
of planning “imminent” attacks.
The Pentagon announced Friday that it is deploying an amphibious assault
ship and a Patriot missile battery to the Middle East to bolster an aircraft
carrier force sent to counter alleged threats from Iran.
Pompeo has already canceled in recent days trips to Berlin and Greenland to
focus on the Iran issue.
In Moscow, Pompeo had been due to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier dedicated to Soviet troops killed in World War II — an era when
Moscow and Washington were allied.
BSS/AFP/GMR/1034 hrs