Pence calls on EU to withdraw from Iran nuclear deal

[February 14, 2019]    WARSAW (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence accused Washington's European allies on Thursday of trying to break U.S. sanctions against Tehran and called on them to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki gather for a family photo during the Middle East summit in Warsaw, Poland, February 14, 2019. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

"Sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as cooperative. In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions," Pence said during a conference on the Middle East organized by the United States in Warsaw.

Pence said a scheme set up by the EU to facilitate trade with Iran was "an effort to break American sanctions against Iran's murderous revolutionary regime".

"It is an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU and create still more distance between Europe and the United States," he said.

The Warsaw meeting was attended by more than 60 nations but major European powers such as Germany and France, part to the 2015 nuclear accord, refused to send their top diplomats.

(Reporting by Justyna Pawlak, Lesley Wroughton, Agnieszka Barteczko and Alan Charlish)

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