The US wants to build a global “coalition” against the Tehran regime and its “destabilising activities”, the State Department said yesterday, after pulling out from the Iran nuclear accord to the anger of US allies.
The plan, to be detailed on Monday by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in his first major foreign policy address since taking office last month, came hours after EU countries unanimously agreed to stick with the Iran deal, ordering Brussels to devise measures to limit the impact of US sanctions.
The pledge puts Europe on an economic collision course with the US as the grouping seeks to protect companies, institutions and trade with Iran from sanctions imposed by Washington.
“The US will be working hard to put together a coalition,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.
The aim is to “bring together a lot of countries from around the world with the specific goal of looking at the Iranian regime through a more realistic lens”, which would include “all of its destabilising activities that aren’t just a threat to the region, but are a threat to the broader world”, she said.
Read the article in The Australian (AFP, The Times).