Tehran threatens Poland with diplomatic consequences for 'anti-Iranian conference'
Iran is intensifying its diplomatic pressure on Poland in connection with an international conference in Warsaw on the future of the Near East and security policy in the region. On Sunday, January 13, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif called the conference a “circus” and an “expression of political confusion”.
“This conference is a hostile initiative of the US, directed against Iran, and Tehran expects Poland to refuse to hold this event,” DPA cites Zarif as saying.
Otherwise, Zarif warns, Iran will be forced to take diplomatic measures against Poland, despite the historically good relations between the two countries.
The conference, which takes place on February 13-14, is being jointly organized by the US and Poland.
Wojciech Unolt, Poland’s Charge d’Affaires in Tehran, was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry in connection with the incident.
Several Polish experts believe that Warsaw was chosen as the location of the conference because anti-Trump protests are unlikely there.
Iranian analysts, on the other hand, draw attention to the deliberately chosen date of the conference – virtually at the same time, Iran will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, said that the conference was proof that the US’s anti-Iranian policy is a “mistake”. “This policy, just like the US sanctions against Iran, has failed completely. Otherwise the Americans would never have needed to organize any international conference,” the DPA cites Shamkhani as saying.
At the start of May 2018, US President Donald Trump announced that the US was unilaterally withdrawing from the nuclear deal with Iran. Washington later reimposed on Iran a number of commercial and economic sanctions which had been temporarily lifted.