Britain warns of Iran-U.S. conflict, Pompeo meets Europeans

[webfact]

Britain warns of Iran-U.S. conflict, Pompeo meets Europeans

By Robin Emmott

 

European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini speaks during a news conference after a meeting of the International Contact Group (IGC) in San Jose, Costa Rica May 7, 2019. REUTERS/Juan Carlos Ulate

 

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Iran and the United States could trigger a conflict by accident in an already unstable Gulf region, Britain's foreign minister said on Monday, as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held talks in Brussels with the main European powers on the crisis.

 

President Donald Trump is seeking to isolate Tehran by cutting off its oil exports after pulling out of a 2015 deal aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear programme. Trump has also beefed up the U.S. military presence in the Gulf to pressure Iran.

 

While the European Union shares some U.S. concerns about Iran, including over its involvement in the Syrian conflict, it still backs the 2015 nuclear deal, saying that it is in Europe's own security interests.

 

"We are very worried about a conflict, about the risk of a conflict ... of an escalation that is unintended," Britain's Jeremy Hunt told reporters in Brussels before talks with Pompeo.

 

Britain, Germany and France are signatories to the 2015 deal and their foreign ministers held separate meetings in Brussels on Monday with Pompeo, who cancelled a planned stopover in Moscow in order to brief the European allies on Washington's latest moves. Pompeo also met NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

 

Pompeo shared information on "escalating" threats from Iran during the meetings, the U.S. special representative for Iran Brian Hook told reporters.

Hook said Pompeo also discussed reported attacks on several oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

 

Asked if Pompeo was blaming Iran for the attacks, Hook said: "We discussed ... what seemed to be attacks on commercial vessels that were anchored off Fujairah ... we have been requested by the UAE to provide assistance in the investigation, which we are very glad to do."

 

Asked if he himself believed there was the possibility of an Iranian role, Hook said: "Don't have any comment."

 

Trump, who wants to force Tehran to agree a broader arms control accord, has sent an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the Gulf in a show of force against what U.S. officials have said is a threat to U.S. troops in the region.

 

Iran says the strategy amounts to "psychological warfare" and a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander on Sunday said Iran would retaliate against any aggressive U.S. moves.

 

"TAKING DIFFERENT COURSES"

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said he had told Pompeo during their Monday meeting: "We do not want it to come to a military conflict (between the United States and Iran)."

 

Maas avoided any public criticism of Washington, saying both sides wanted to ensure peace in the Middle East. But he said it was clear Europe and the United States were "going about it in different ways ... taking different courses."

 

Before his meeting with Pompeo, France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian urged Europeans to remain united in support of the nuclear deal, which was signed by the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia, and which the EU helped to negotiate.

 

For Europe, the tensions with the Trump administration mark a deepening split in transatlantic ties that were traditionally marked by close coordination on Middle East policy, despite sharp disagreements over the 2003 Iraq war.

 

Hook said the bilateral meeting had been "very good."

 

"We agree on much more than we disagree ... We share the same threat assessment," he said. "We are very concerned about Iran's - a lot of the multiple threat streams that have been reported over the last three or four days."

 

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned last week Tehran could resume enrichment of nuclear fuel at a higher grade if the European powers, China and Russia did not do more to circumvent punitive U.S. measures on banking and energy to boost trade.

 

Hunt, who held talks with Maas and Le Drian on the margins of a regular EU meeting in Brussels, expressed concern about the risks of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East if Iran were to acquire such weapons.

 

"We need to make sure that we don't end up putting Iran back on the path to re-nuclearisation," Hunt said, calling for "a period of calm so that everyone understands what the other side is thinking."

 

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the EU would continue to support the nuclear pact because Iran continued to comply with inspections and uranium production limits.

 

The EU is trying to implement a new channel to allow Iran to sell its oil and circumvent newly-instated U.S. sanctions, but setting it up is proving complex.

 

Spain's Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said Madrid was considering joining the special trade channel, known as INSTEX, which so far counts France, Germany and Britain as shareholders and could be operational by the end of June.

 

(Reporting by Robin Emmott, additional reporting by Francesco Guarascio and Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Gareth Jones and Rosalba O'Brien)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-05-14

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[car720]

important to remember here that the Iranians are not Arabs and think differently.

[Chomper Higgot]

Unfortunately for the US, Europeans have rumbled US claims of threats from Middle East nations the US is eager to start a war with.

 

 

[grumbleweed]

4 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Unfortunately for the US, Europeans have rumbled US claims of threats from Middle East nations the US is eager to start a war with.

 

 

but but... they're the world's peace keepers. Blissfully unaware that most of the world regards them as the biggest threat to world peace

[kamahele]

44 minutes ago, grumbleweed said:

but but... they're the world's peace keepers. Blissfully unaware that most of the world regards them as the biggest threat to world peace

There is a difference between being unaware and not caring and I think we fall mostly into the not caring category unfortunately.

 

[candide]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

"We are very concerned about Iran's - a lot of the multiple threat streams that have been reported over the last three or four days."

 

[OneMoreFarang]

Obviously Trump won't listen. He needs a distraction from all his personal failings.  And his fox "news" watching supporters will never know that Trump is the problem and not Iran.   Iran complied with all the details from the agreement. The USA broke it.

[Pedrogaz]

A war is inevitable and has been since Iran humiliated the US in the 70s. Any pretext is acceptable to the US to start wars, even false flags perpetrated by the CIA....just like all the wars....a PR campaign full of lies, with all the establishment press on board, then the war. The ill educated, brainwashed, incurious, sheeplike population of the US then supports it because of naive patriotism. 

IT IS TIME TO STOP THIS EVIL CYCLE. The US must obey its own laws and international agreements. 

[Pedrogaz]

1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Unfortunately for the US, Europeans have rumbled US claims of threats from Middle East nations the US is eager to start a war with.

 

 

But EU politicians have no spine....

[thaiguzzi]

I'd suggest the Iranians sail a military ship between Cuba & Florida and see if the USA likes it.

Warmongering, posturing scumbags, Bolton and his ilk.

The statements from Pompeo and his team are uncanny in their similarity about Saddam and his (non existent) WMD's...

[impulse]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

"We are very worried about a conflict, about the risk of a conflict ... of an escalation that is unintended," Britain's Jeremy Hunt told reporters in Brussels before talks with Pompeo.

 

It's kind of cute and yet a little sad that he thinks it will be unintended. 

 

Hopefully, a Wikileaks or something similar will expose the truth.

 

[thaiguzzi]

14 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

.just like all the wars....a PR campaign full of lies,

Was back in the UK last month, watched a very interesting program about PR and the very beginnings of PR and how PR came about.

Apparently PR was invented by US govt workers during WW I, to get a population "onside" for entry into a war no one wanted in on....

[pegman]

Hunt forgot to say that as per tradition the UK will be a good poodle and follow the Americans into whatever folly its Israeli lobby masters take them.

[neeray]

32 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

IT IS TIME TO STOP THIS EVIL CYCLE. The US must obey its own laws and international agreements. 

POTUS does not respect any laws, domestic or international.

[stevenl]

9 minutes ago, davemos said:

The Iran rulers support Hisbollah who have fired hundreds of missiles into Israel Imagine if they were Nukes ?

Very good reason to keep the agreement that Trump cancelled in place.

[stevenl]

3 minutes ago, davemos said:

“Iranian official admits that Iran could have carried out the sabotage of Saudi oil tankers” 

Source please.

[LomSak27]

1 hour ago, Pedrogaz said:

A war is inevitable and has been since Iran humiliated the US in the 70s. Any pretext is acceptable to the US to start wars, even false flags perpetrated by the CIA....just like all the wars....a PR campaign full of lies, with all the establishment press on board, then the war. The ill educated, brainwashed, incurious, sheeplike population of the US then supports it because of naive patriotism. 

IT IS TIME TO STOP THIS EVIL CYCLE. The US must obey its own laws and international agreements. 

Going for false flag malarky already?! plus "establishment press on board "  ??? ... your screed seems to be way behind the times and certainly not applicable to Humpty Dumpty.

Need to up your game, not the 70's, your almost fifty years behind.  

[bristolboy]

1 hour ago, davemos said:

“Iranian official admits that Iran could have carried out the sabotage of Saudi oil tankers” 

Wow. You are one dishonest person. The quote comes from someone posting a comment on this article and making up a quote:

Iran implicitly wards off suspicion over Fujairah sabotage

https://www.debka.com/mivzak/iran-implicitly-wards-off-suspicion-over-fujairah-sabotage/

[chilli42]

I really hope the UK is going to break with past practice this time and refuse to be America’s b$&?ch.

[whimsicalmike]

6 hours ago, neeray said:

POTUS does not respect any laws, domestic or international.

Potus

Sounds like some sort of nasty infection ????

[roquefort]

4 hours ago, whimsicalmike said:

Potus

Sounds like some sort of nasty infection ????

With the current incumbent, it is.

[roquefort]

13 hours ago, car720 said:

important to remember here that the Iranians are not Arabs and think differently.

Thanks for enlightening us on that point. And how exactly do the Iranians think?

[TheHangingJudge]

What makes you think it will be unintentional at least the US have the balls .

[bristolboy]

27 minutes ago, TheHangingJudge said:

What makes you think it will be unintentional at least the US have the balls .

Whether that's a good thing or not, events have yet to establish their possession of said organs.

[Morch]

12 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

I'd suggest the Iranians sail a military ship between Cuba & Florida and see if the USA likes it.

Warmongering, posturing scumbags, Bolton and his ilk.

The statements from Pompeo and his team are uncanny in their similarity about Saddam and his (non existent) WMD's...

 

I suggest that would be just the sort of thing that would be used as justification for war by the Trump administration, so maybe kinda counter-productive.

[Scott]

Off-topic posts and replies removed.   Continued off-topic trolling will earn suspensions.  

 

[pegman]

12 hours ago, LomSak27 said:

Going for false flag malarky already?! plus "establishment press on board "  ??? ... your screed seems to be way behind the times and certainly not applicable to Humpty Dumpty.

Need to up your game, not the 70's, your almost fifty years behind.  

WMD

[bomber]

16 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Unfortunately for the US, Europeans have rumbled US claims of threats from Middle East nations the US is eager to start a war with.

 

 

correct,lets all leave nato and have an EU army,much better idea,brexiteers still thinking WW2 is still going on might not agree but they can still go out marching with tommy and put a few shop windows out to feel better.

[car720]

12 hours ago, roquefort said:

Thanks for enlightening us on that point. And how exactly do the Iranians think?

I have found them to be very polarized.

Some have a distinct western philosophy whilst others have a more radical eastern thought pattern.  They do however hold themselves to not being associated with the Arab folk in their culture.

[Morch]

59 minutes ago, car720 said:

I have found them to be very polarized.

Some have a distinct western philosophy whilst others have a more radical eastern thought pattern.  They do however hold themselves to not being associated with the Arab folk in their culture.

 

Which doesn't really answer the question, or explain your initial, wide brush comment.