Iran Protests To Poland Over Upcoming Summit

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has summoned the Polish envoy in Tehran to protest Poland jointly hosting a global conference with the United States focused on the Middle East, and Iran in particular, local state media reported.

A ministry official told Poland's charge d'affaires, Wojciech Unolt, that Iran saw the decision to host the gathering next month as a "hostile act against Iran" and warned that Tehran could resort to unspecified "counteraction" toward Poland, the IRNA news agency reported on January 13.

The report said that the Polish diplomat “provided explanations about the conference and said it was not anti-Iran."

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on January 11 that the ministerial meeting -- to be held in Warsaw on February 13-14 -- would "focus on Middle East stability and peace and freedom and security here in this region.”

It will include “an important element of making sure that Iran is not a destabilizing influence," said Pompeo, who is on a tour of the Middle East.

Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said he hoped the conference would bring the EU and U.S. positions closer.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called the conference a "desperate anti-Iran circus."

Relations between Tehran and Washington have worsened following President Donald Trump's decision in May 2018 to withdraw the United States from the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and six major powers.

The Trump administration moved to reimpose sanctions on Tehran, as well.

Other partners in the deal, however, have sought to keep the agreement from completely unraveling.

With reporting by IRNA, Reuters, and AP