Iran summons Polish envoy to protest US 'circus' in Warsaw

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has summoned Polish Chargé d'Affaires in Tehran, Wojciech Unolt, to protest an anti-Iran US summit which Poland is to host in Warsaw on February 13-14.

According to Press TV, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's announcement that the summit is going to focus on Iran has drawn strong reaction from Tehran, with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif denouncing it a "desperate anti-Iran circus."  

"This is a hostile measure by the United States against the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Poland is expected to avoid assisting the US in holding the conference,” an Iranian Foreign Ministry official told Unolt on Sunday. 

According to IRNA, Unolt provided explanations regarding the upcoming summit and said it was not meant against Iran.

"He said Poland’s stance is different from that of the US and does not conform with the recent remarks made by US officials," the agency added.

The Iranian official, however, rejected the explanation as insufficient, saying the Poland government should immediately compensate for the move or have Iran "inevitably take reciprocal measures."

Pompeo said on Friday that the summit would purportedly focus on stability and security in the Middle East, including on the “important element of making sure that Iran is not a destabilizing influence.”

The top US diplomat announced the summit as he began a tour of the Middle East with the aim of building up a campaign against Iran as part of the Trump administration's stepped-up pressures on Tehran. 

The meeting will reportedly bring together leaders from Europe, Asia, Africa, the Western Hemisphere, and the Middle East, including of some of Iran's sworn enemies such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Foreign Minister Zarif on Friday expressed discontent with Warsaw’s move to co-host the conference, saying it would bring disgrace to the participants.

He took to Twitter to lash out at Poland and to remind both the hosts and participants that the ones attending the last conference against Iran “are either dead, disgraced, or marginalized.”

Zarif also reminded Poland of Iran's hosting as many as 120,000 Poles released from Soviet gulags during the Second World War, saying Warsaw was reciprocating the gesture with an anti-Iran conference.

ME