Secretary Pompeo Attends EU Ministerial in Brussels on Iran and JCPOA

May 13, 2019 (EIRNS)—Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in an abrupt change of his itinerary yesterday, flew to Brussels overnight, to be there at the time of the pre-scheduled meeting of diplomats from the 28 European Union nations, which had convened to discuss how to move ahead with Iran, given the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA in 2018. This meant Pompeo cancelled meetings previously arranged for today in Moscow with American businessmen and others.

Pompeo said he wanted to provide more detail to the European ministers about threats from Iran. He met with NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg, with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, and with the foreign ministers of Britain, France, and Germany. Preliminary reports are that the ministers called for restraint by the U.S. Mogherini said, the moment is “crucial and delicate,” and there should be “maximum restraint and avoiding any escalation of the military side.”

European ministers, together and bilaterally, conducted various meetings, including ways to have transactions with Iran, despite the U.S. sanctions. One project is called Instex, to facilitate oil and other transactions, outside the U.S. proscription. The new arrangement could go live in June, and today’s discussion involved ministers from Germany, France, and Britain, with the support of Spain.