The unplanned visit, en route to Russia, pits Pompeo against backers of the Iran nuclear deal.
By Michael Birnbaum Michael Birnbaum Brussels bureau chief covering Europe Email Bio Follow May 13 at 6:14 AM BRUSSELS — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday arrived Brussels in an unplanned visit with European foreign ministers who had been meeting to bolster the faltering Iran nuclear deal against a U.S. assault.
Pompeo scrapped a day of mostly ceremonial events in Moscow on Monday in favor of the Brussels stopover. He plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday. Many E.U. leaders are furious with Trump’s moves on Iran, and Brussels appeared set to welcome Pompeo only grudgingly, if at all.
“We were told during the night that he was planning to change his travel plans,” E.U. foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini, told reporters ahead of a previously-scheduled meeting of top diplomats from the 28 European Union nations. “We will be here all day, with a busy agenda, so we will see during the day how and if we manage to arrange a meeting. He’s always welcome, obviously, but there are no precise plans for the moment.
“We are very worried about the risk of a conflict happening by accident, with an escalation that is unintended really on either side,” British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said ahead of the meeting. “Most of all, we need to make sure we don’t end up putting Iran back on the path to renuclearization. Because if Iran becomes a nuclear power, its neighbors are likely to want to become nuclear powers.
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