The US administration wants the government in Warsaw to "boycott" Iran, while the European Union of which Poland is part is trying to maintain a deal with Tehran, a Polish newspaper has reported.
Two US government officials -- Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Peek and the Treasury Department's Marshall S. Billingslea, who is Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing -- were in Warsaw on Friday to communicate the White House's expectations of Poland after President Donald Trump pulled America out of a nuclear deal with Iran, the Rzeczpospolita daily reported.
It quoted Peek as saying that Tehran must be subjected to maximum economic pressure so that it abandons supporting terrorism and aggressive policies in Syria and the Middle East, and to make it stop building ballistic missiles.
EU nations such as France, Germany and Britain, meanwhile, insist Trump made a fundamental mistake withdrawing Washington from the deal with Iran, Rzeczpospolita reported on its website.
Between a rock and a hard place
Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz in late May said that Poland would demonstrate an understanding for the American position on Iran within the EU.
He was speaking at a meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington a few days after President Donald Trump pulled America out of the deal with Iran.
Czaputowicz said in an interview last month that the EU should pay more heed to Washington’s security concerns following America’s withdrawal from the deal.
He was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying that, during discussions within the EU, Poland “will emphasise the need to consider the motives of the United States and a greater empathy towards them.”
International sanctions on Tehran were lifted after global powers including the United States in 2015 struck an agreement with Iran under which Tehran agreed to restrictions on its nuclear programme.
Trump withdrew the United States from the deal last month, calling it deeply flawed.
EU nations have since been scrambling to ensure Iran gets enough economic benefits to persuade it to stay in the deal, according to Reuters.
(gs/pk)
Source: Rzeczpospolita, Reuters