Global meet to pile pressure on Tehran

Warsaw - EU policy chief Federica Mogherini, who was a key player in the Iran nuclear deal, will not attend the two-day conference due to scheduling issues.

Foreign ministers and senior officials from 60 nations gathered in the Polish capital Warsaw on Wednesday where the United States hopes to ratchet up pressure against Iran despite concerns among major European countries about heightened tensions with Tehran.
EU policy chief Federica Mogherini, who was a key player in the Iran nuclear deal, will not attend the two-day conference due to scheduling issues, an EU official said, although US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to Brussels on Friday to meet her.
"This is a global coalition that is built to deliver on the important mission of reducing the risk that has emanated from the Middle East for far too long," Pompeo said on Tuesday evening as he opened his visit to Poland.
Pompeo, who will be joined by US Vice-President Mike Pence in Warsaw, played down the absence of leading European ministers during a brief stop in the Slovak capital Bratislava, before he headed to Warsaw.
"There will be discussions about Iran's influence in the Middle East, what we can do to help get Iran on a more helpful footing than it has been, to collectively push back on some of its malign behaviour in the region," a senior US official said of the Warsaw agenda.