Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to announce the administration’s new Iran strategy on Monday amid rising tensions across Europe and the Middle East over America’s renewed efforts to thwart Tehran’s nuclear and political ambitions.
On Sunday, European Union leaders scrambled to reassure Tehran that despite President Trump’s decision earlier this month to scrap the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions, the 28-nation bloc remains committed to salvaging the accord.
German media reported that diplomats from Europe, China and Russia are planning to meet in Vienna this week to discuss salvaging the deal by offering Iran financial aid in exchange for promises that Tehran curb its ballistic missile development and meddling in the Middle East. According to the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, the meetings will be led by senior EU diplomat Helga Schmid.
Since Mr. Trump’s May 8 announcement to withdraw from the deal, EU leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin have pledged to try to keep the Iranian oil trade and investment in the country flowing.
Over the weekend, EU Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete met with Iranian nuclear officials in Tehran. Afterward, he said Europe still hoped to strengthen trade with Iran, which maintains crucial oil ties to the continent.
“We have sent a message to our Iranian friends that as long as they are sticking to the [nuclear] agreement the Europeans will fulfill their commitment. And they said the same thing on the other side,” Mr. Arias Cañete told reporters on Saturday.
Major European companies have begun buckling, however.
Last week, French energy giant Total S.A. announced plans to pull out of $1 billion gas project it launched in Iran in 2017 because of fears that renewed U.S. sanctions would impact its business elsewhere. Total executives said the firm will cease its Iranian operation by November unless it can secure waivers to U.S. sanctions.
Leading Danish tanker operator Maersk and German insurer Allianz also announced plans to wind down business in Iran.
Mr. Pompeo is scheduled to speak Monday before the Heritage Foundation in Washington.
One of his senior advisers, Brian Hook, said the Trump administration views leaving the Iran deal as an “opportunity” as opposed to the worries expressed by other world leaders.
Mr. Trump has long criticized the accord as being too narrow, focused only on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and not Iranian efforts to influence politics throughout the Middle East.
“We need a new framework that’s going to address the totality of Iran’s threats,” Mr. Hook told reporters in a conference call Friday. “We see an opportunity to counter and address Iran’s nuclear and proliferation threats and to create a better nonproliferation and deterrence architecture for Iran and the region.”
Since the U.S. announcement to withdraw, Iranian officials have defiantly pledged to soon restart their nuclear program.
However, Iranian media have addressed the possibility that significantly reduced oil sales could tip the balance of power in Iran’s faction-ridden political establishment.
In January, massive anti-government protests broke out across the country because of popular anger fueled by economic hardship.
• Dan Boylan can be reached at dboylan@washingtontimes.com.
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