Pompeo and Mogherini Discuss Iran on the Sidelines of NATO Summit

Heather Nauert, spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, stated on Thursday, July 12, that Mike Pompeo and Federica Mogherini, the European Union's foreign policy chief, discussed various issues including Iran on the sidelines of the NATO summit. Nauert said in a statement: Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State, and Federica Mogherini talked about a range of common challenges facing the U.S. and Europe. The U.S. State Department spokesperson added that they agreed on the growing dangers posed by Iran's malign influence across the Middle East. In this context, Mike Pompeo had called for countering the actions of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the region just hours before this meeting. Pompeo tweeted: Iran continues to send weapons throughout the Middle East in blatant violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions. The Iranian regime wants to cause trouble wherever it can. Stopping this is our responsibility. Several Arab countries, as well as the U.S. and Europe, have consistently expressed concern about Iran's actions in the region, especially in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq. Iran has denied the accusation of 'supporting terrorism' in the region, describing its presence in Syria as 'advisory' and 'at the invitation of the Bashar al-Assad government.' Iran has also rejected allegations regarding military support for Houthi rebels in Yemen. The U.S. Secretary of State also called on U.S. allies and partners to join the economic pressure campaign against Iran in another tweet. Pompeo tweeted: We ask our allies and partners to join the economic pressure campaign against the Iranian regime. We must cut off all financial resources that the regime uses to finance terrorism and proxy wars. It is impossible to say when the Iranian regime might next attempt to incite terrorism, violence, and instability in one of our countries. Donald Trump, the President of the United States, announced Washington's withdrawal from the nuclear agreement with Iran, known as the JCPOA, in May of this year. Following this decision, the U.S. also asked all countries to cut their economic ties with Iran by November of this year. In this context, the Trump administration explicitly asked countries buying Iranian oil to stop all imports from Iran starting in November (November 13) and resuming sanctions against Tehran. Meanwhile, the three European countries, Britain, France, and Germany, are trying to preserve the nuclear agreement with Iran. These three European countries hope to ensure Tehran's continued compliance with the JCPOA after the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions by guaranteeing economic relations with Iran. One of the reasons Donald Trump cited for the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear agreement with Iran was that the Islamic Republic continued to develop its ballistic missile program and 'support for terrorism' in the region even after the JCPOA.