U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Poland on Tuesday and laid out the agenda for a conference on the Middle East saying "the risk that has emanated from the Middle East for far too long."
Pompeo was speaking at a joint news conference with Polish counterpart and host foreign minister Jacek Czaputowicz in the capital Warsaw where the Wednesday ministerial summit will be taking place.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's senior advisor and son-in-law, and Jason Greenblatt, the president's special representative for international negotiations are expected to attend.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has dismissed the conference as a "desperate anti-Iran circus."
Despite an attempt to take the focus off Iran, key EU officials, including Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini, are set to avoid the conference as European powers and the European Union work to preserve the Iran nuclear deal the U.S. withdrew from in 2018.
In the same news conference, Pompeo spoke again about Chinese telecoms giant Huawei whose apparatus the United States and its Western allies believe could be used for espionage.
During his stop in Budapest on Monday, Pompeo cautioned allies against deploying equipment from Huawei, saying it would make it more difficult for Washington to "partner alongside them."
Washington is concerned in particular about the expansion of Huawei, the world's biggest maker of telecoms equipment, in Hungary and Poland.
At the Warsaw news conference, Pompeo conceded that it was up to the states themselves to make the choice on the technology used within their countries.
A Huawei employee arrested on spying allegations in Poland in January was later sacked by the company.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Reuters