SHAFAQNA– The US effort to enlist Europe in its pressure campaign against Iran is facing a setback after ministers from several European Union members and the head of the European Union’s diplomacy Federica Mogherini appear ready boycott an anti-Iran conference organised by Washington in Poland.
The meeting is to be held in Poland on February 13-14 as part of US efforts to increase global pressure on the Islamic Republic.
But since US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announcement during his tour of the Middle East, a number of EU representatives have said they will skip the summit, co-hosted by Poland and the US.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini will not take part in the anti-Iran conference to be held by the US in the Polish capital of Warsaw in mid-February, Iranian and US media reports say.
An EU official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Iran’s official news agency that Mogherini will not be able to attend the conference due to her tight schedule.
Mogherini will be “traveling in those days, hence her attendance is not foreseen,” the official told IRNA’s correspondent in London.
A senior EU official also confirmed IRNA’s report on Thursday, saying Mogherini will not attend the gathering because of a prior engagement, the Wall Street Journal reported.
There is “a lot of uncertainty about participation of many other EU member states at ministerial level,” one official told the newspaper.
France is also unlikely to send its foreign minister, according to European diplomats. Luxembourg’s foreign minister said he would miss the event because of a prior arrangement. The UK and Germany have not yet taken any official positions.
One European diplomat said the bloc will not be “joining an anti-Iran coalition.”
A group of activists in the United States and other countries recently signed a petition, calling on European countries to boycott an anti-Iran summit.
The activists started the petition on the website of the anti-war group Code Pink to ask European countries not to attend the summit.
More than 3,400 people have so far signed the online petition, which urges EU countries to skip Pompeo’s “belligerent conference” and “instead host an alternative one with all nations of the region, including Iran.”
The European Union is a strong supporter of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and is seeking to help retain economic ties with Tehran despite renewed US sanctions on Iran following US President Donald Trump’s decision in May to withdraw from the accord.
Iranian officials have denounced Poland for hosting a meeting “hostile to Iran” and warned that Tehran could reciprocate. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday criticised Poland for hosting the meeting by writing on Twitter: “Polish Govt can’t wash the shame: while Iran saved Poles in WWII, it now hosts desperate anti-Iran circus.”
Mr Zarif’s comments made reference to Iran’s role in hosting over 100,000 Polish refugees during the Second World War.
Iranian Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri said the summit was being held because US sanctions had failed to bring Iran to its knees.
Iran’s national news agency reported that Iran expressed its discontent to Poland’s Chargé d’Affaires Wojciech Unolt, demanding that Warsaw not go along with the “hostile move”, The National reported.
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