Negotiations Between U.S. and U.K. Foreign Ministers on Iran and Russia

Heather Nauert, spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, stated on Wednesday that Mike Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of State, and his British counterpart Jeremy Hunt discussed Russia, Iran, the Islamic State group, ISIS, and Yemen. The statement from the U.S. State Department indicated that Pompeo and Hunt addressed several global issues, including ongoing threats from Russia's dangerous and destabilizing behavior and Iran's destructive activities, the campaign to defeat ISIS, and the humanitarian situation in Yemen. Donald Trump, the U.S. President, who has consistently criticized the nuclear deal with Iran, finally announced his decision to withdraw the U.S. from this agreement on May 8. Following the U.S. exit from the agreement, the first round of suspended U.S. sanctions against Iran was reinstated on August 7. Trump has previously described the JCPOA as flawed and the worst deal, believing it did not cover Iran's missile program or Tehran's destabilizing role in regional peace and stability. The U.S. President is calling for a new agreement that includes Iran's missile program and regional activities. In this context, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. called for London to support Washington's position on exiting the nuclear deal with Iran (JCPOA) and considered the formation of a 'united front' the best way to convince Tehran to change its behavior. Jeremy Hunt, who traveled to Washington for discussions with U.S. officials, defended the U.K.'s position to maintain the nuclear deal with Iran in an interview with Axios, an American political website. The British Foreign Secretary stated that U.S. sanctions against Iran might change Iran's 'destabilizing regional behaviors,' but increasing these sanctions could lead to Iran's exit from the nuclear deal and the rise of an extremist government in Iran. Nauert also added that as two close allies, the foreign ministers of both countries emphasized their commitment to deepening international and security cooperation and welcomed the prospect of achieving a free trade agreement. The U.S. State Department spokesperson also noted that Pompeo and Hunt expressed appreciation for American diplomats who were recently expelled by Russia. The U.S. expelled several Russian diplomats in response to the chemical poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Salisbury, U.K. Russia also retaliated by expelling 60 American diplomats. Sergei Skripal, a former colonel in the Russian military intelligence service, who had sought asylum in the U.K. after spying for the U.S. and serving several years in prison, was poisoned with a toxic substance along with his daughter in mid-March 2018. British officials later announced that the toxic substance was called 'Novichok' and was only available to the former Soviet Union. Russia denies these allegations.