Washington’s latest anti-Iran initiative heads toward failure with EU officials refusing to get on board

Tabnak – As part of its strategy of imposing maximum pressure on Iran, the United States has declared a plan to hold an anti-Iran conference in Poland. However, with high-ranking European officials refusing to attend the conference, Washington’s desire to form a comprehensive front against Iran seems to be failing again.

The US effort to enlist Europe in its pressure campaign against Iran faced a setback after officials said ministers from several European Union members and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini will skip a summit organized by Washington on Iran and the Middle East in Poland.

A senior EU official said on Thursday that Mogherini would not attend the Warsaw gathering because of a prior engagement, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mogherini has spearheaded EU efforts to sustain the 2015 deal, which offered Iran relief from sanctions in exchange for steps to curb its nuclear program.

The senior EU official said the bloc remains unclear on what vision of peace and stability in the Middle East the Feb. 13-14 summit will aim to promote. There is “a lot of uncertainty about participation of many other EU member states at ministerial level,” the official said.

European diplomats said in recent days that France is unlikely to send its foreign minister. Britain and Germany have not decided who will represent them. Luxembourg’s foreign minister said he would miss the event because of a prior arrangement. One European diplomat said the bloc would not be “joining an anti-Iran coalition.”

Meanwhile, 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.”

Iran has expressed its strong protest at the planned summit in Warsaw, with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif denouncing it as a “desperate anti-Iran circus.” The Iranian Foreign Ministry also summoned Polish chargé d'affaires in Tehran, Wojciech Unolt, to protest the conference.

Polish officials have been trying to play down the Iran focus of the summit. Poland’s foreign minister has asked to formally raise the meeting at a regular EU foreign-affairs meeting, EU officials said.

The choice of Poland, a member of the EU, to co-host the summit was seen by some European diplomats as an effort to split the EU over Iran.

The bloc is a strong supporter of the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal and is seeking to help retain economic ties with Tehran despite renewed US sanctions on Iran following President Trump’s decision in May to withdraw from the nuclear deal.