MUNICH (AP) — Germany’s foreign minister on Friday slammed US President Donald Trump’s protectionist trade measures as creating a “lose-lose” situation and defended Europe’s attempts to keep a nuclear deal with Iran alive after the unilateral American withdrawal.
Heiko Maas fired back after harsh criticism from US Vice President Mike Pence of some of Washington’s closest European allies.
Maas told a conference of world leaders and top diplomats and defense officials that Germany, Britain, France and the European Union as a whole were committed to preserving the 2015 deal meant to prevent Iran from obtaining a bomb.
“Without it, one thing is clear, the region would be no safer but instead a step closer to an open confrontation, with all of the implications that would have on Europe’s own security,” he said.
The comments at the Munich Security Conference came the day after Pence, at a conference in Warsaw, accused the three European NATO allies of trying to “break” American sanctions on Iran and called on them to pull out from the nuclear deal.
“The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and join with us as we bring the economic and diplomatic pressure necessary to give the Iranian people, the region and the world the peace security and freedom they deserve,” Pence said. READ MORE
