Iran Summons Polish Charge d’affaires over Warsaw Conference

In a Sunday statement, the Ministry said it has summoned the Polish diplomat, Wojciech Unolt, to voice protest at a so-called conference on Middle East peace and security that the United States is going to co-organize with Poland in Warsaw on February 13 and 14.

During the meeting, the director of the Iranian foreign ministry’s First Department for Eastern Europe affairs expressed the strong protest of the Islamic Republic to the Polish diplomat over his country’s cooperation with the US in holding such a conference.

“This is a hostile US move against the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Poland is expected to refrain from keeping the US company in holding such a conference.”

For his part, Poland’s charge d’affaires offered explanations on the conference and underlined that the summit is not anti-Iran.

He said the official stance of Poland is different from those expressed recently by the US officials.

In turn, the Iranian official described the explanations as insufficient and underlined the need for compensatory actions on the Polish side.

The Iranian diplomat then added if the actions are not carried out, the Islamic Republic will have no way but to adopt retaliatory measures.

The polish charge d’affaires highlighted the historical ties between the two states, and said he would convey the message of the Islamic Republic to officials in Warsaw.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier said that Washington will jointly host a global summit focused on Iran and the Middle East next month in Poland. Pompeo added the gathering would “focus on Middle East stability and peace, freedom and security here in this region, and that includes an important element of making sure that Iran is not a destabilizing influence”.

Since its unilateral withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal last year, the US has been increasing pressure on Tehran and vowed to increase it until Iran halts what US officials describe as its “malign activities” throughout the Mideast and elsewhere.