US: No peace in Middle East without ‘confronting’ Iran

By Emre Aytekin

ANKARA (AA) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday accused Iran of being a “malign influence” in the Middle East, arguing that confronting Tehran is a must for peace and stability in the region.

“You can’t achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran, it’s just not possible,” Pompeo told a press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a conference on the Mideast in the Polish capital Warsaw.

“They’re a malign influence in Lebanon, in Yemen, in Syria, in Iraq, the three H’s: the Houthis, Hamas, and Hezbollah. These are real threats; there are others as well. But you can’t get peace in the Middle East without pushing back against Iran,” he added.

The two-day U.S.-sponsored conference started Thursday with representatives from several Arab and Western states. The meeting is discussing peace and security in the Middle East, and issues such as terrorism, missile development, and proliferation.

For his part, Netanyahu called the conference a “historic turning point."

“In a room of some 60 foreign ministers and representatives of dozens of governments, an Israeli prime minister and the foreign ministers of the leading Arab countries stood together and spoke with unusual force, clarity, and unity against the common threat of the Iranian regime,” Netanyahu said.

“I think this marks a change, an important understanding of what threatens our future, what we have to do to secure it, and the possibilities of cooperation that extend beyond security to every realm of life for the peoples of the Middle East,” he added.

Late Wednesday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif blasted the gathering.

“Is it no coincidence that Iran is hit by terror on the very day that #WarsawCircus begins?” Zarif wrote on Twitter, referring to a suicide attack in Iran which killed at least 27 members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

“Especially when cohorts of same terrorists cheer it from Warsaw streets & support it with Twitter bots? US seems to always make the same wrong choices, but expect different results,” he added.