Pompeo urges fresh thinking on Mideast, warns Iran

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that greater cooperation and "fresh thinking to solve old problems" are needed in the Middle East — but he also condemned Iran and its proxies for continuing "to foment terror and unrest" in the region.

America's top diplomat said "time is running short" to keep a U.N. arms embargo on Iran and a travel ban on the head of the country's elite Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, warning that ending such sanctions will "create new turmoil" by the country's "terror regime." The embargo and ban expire in October 2020.

"Failing to confront the Iranian regime's malign activities will only grow the regime's multi-continental body count spanning the last 40 years," he warned.

United States Secretary of State Michael Pompeo addresses a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the Mideast, Tuesday Aug. 20, 2019 at U.N. headquarters. (AP PhotoBebeto Matthews)

Pompeo was one of more than 30 speakers at a Security Council meeting about the complex challenges confronting the Middle East. He faced sharp criticism from Russia and Iran, and milder criticism over Trump administration policies from several Western allies.

Pompeo began by touting the Trump administration's accomplishments related to "reviving America's leadership role" in the region. These included helping to dismantle the Islamic State extremist group's "physical caliphate" which once spanned large areas in Iraq and Syria, helping the U.N. envoy bring peace to Yemen, and facilitating new links between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

Pompeo then called for more to be done to tackle the challenges facing the Middle East from raging conflict in Libya and continuing violence in Syria to the rift among Gulf countries and Iran, which he described as "the greatest ongoing threat to peace and security in the region."

United States Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, left, and Israel United Nations Ambassador Danny Danon, center, shake hands before a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the Mideast, Tuesday Aug. 20, 2019 at U.N. headquarters. (AP PhotoBebeto Matthews)

He condemned Iran's support for proxies in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen as well as its "inexcusable and unprovoked sabotage and seizure of commercial vessels" in the Persian Gulf and its development and testing of advanced ballistic missiles in defiance of a U.N. resolution.

"Clearly, from Aleppo to Aden, from Tripoli to Tehran, greater cooperation in the Middle East is needed more than ever," Pompeo said. "We need fresh thinking to solve old problems."

He said that's why the U.S. and Poland established the Warsaw Process at a meeting attended by 60 countries in February to promote peace and security in the Middle East. He said seven working groups have been created to focus on the region's challenges — cybersecurity, human rights, maritime and aviation security, energy security, missile proliferation, counterterrorism, and humanitarian issues and refugees.

United States Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, center, and Foreign Minister of Poland Jacek Czaputowicz, second from right, arrive for a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the Mideast, Tuesday Aug. 20, 2019 at U.N. headquarters. (AP PhotoBebeto Matthews)

Russia's deputy U.N. ambassador Dmitry Polyansky called the Warsaw Process, which Moscow boycotted, "another attempt to impose a unilateral solution to advance parochial geopolitical agendas."

Speaking directly to Pompeo, he said the secretary of state's speech contained many negative words, only made one reference to cooperation — and "not once did you use the word dialogue."

He said Pompeo also spoke "in an emotionally charged way" about the Persian Gulf, which Russia is also concerned about.

"But you are cobbling together a coalition against Iran, portraying that country as the sole source of problems, a kind of empire of evil, so to speak," Polyansky said.

As a result of the military build-up in the region, he said, any incident can spark a conflict "with potentially devastating consequences." And he appealed to all parties to exercise restraint, settle problems politically and diplomatically, and "eschew ultimatums, sanctions and threats."

Polyansky said the United States can't expect Iran to sit down for negotiations without preconditions when its calls for talks "are punctuated with direct provocations and demeaning sanctions."

"I wish to assure you, nonetheless, that even given these difficult circumstances we will continue to seek to persuade both our Iranian and United States colleagues of the fact that it's important to step away from this dangerous precipice, to begin to engage in a settlement through civilized dialogue which provides for an end to ultimatums, sanctions and to blackmail," Polyansky said.

Iran's U.N. Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi said one of the main causes of instability and insecurity in the Middle East is the U.S. deployment of over 70,000 troops in the region. Almost all of the 41 military installations in the Mideast in 2018 — up from four in 1990 — are American, he said, and "the unbridled flow of American weaponry into this region has turned it into a powder keg."

Responding to Pompeo's call for other nations to join the U.S., Britain and Bahrain in ensuring freedom of navigation in the Gulf, Ravanchi called any interference in the strategic waterway "destabilizing," ''unacceptable," and doomed to "fail."

He reiterated Iran's call for a regional dialogue of Persian Gulf nations, and Polyansky reiterated Russia's call for collective security in the Gulf.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Karen Pierce said, "This may well ... be an idea whose time is yet to come, not least because the region itself needs to be ready for such work."

She said one option might be to have a serious and inclusive talk between regional and international actors about the Strait of Hormuz.

Britain, France and Germany all reiterated their support for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and urged the government to return to the uranium limits in the agreement.

Anne Gueguen, who is France's deputy U.N. ambassador, said in implicit criticism of the U.S. that there "can't just be the policy of pressure and sanctions." She said only a global approach can deal with Iran's nuclear, ballistic missile, and regional activities.

Andreas Michaelis, a German deputy foreign minister, said these issues and Iran's threats to maritime security in the Gulf need to be addressed, and the three countries "are right now looking into options of how to foster regional cooperation and maritime security."

In a message clearly aimed at the Trump administration, he added: "We are convinced that active de-escalation by all sides will yield positive results, and that an even higher pressure and unilateral actions will do the opposite."

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia on Wednesday vetoed a U.N. resolution sponsored by the United States and Japan calling on all nations to prevent a dangerous nuclear arms race in outer space, calling it “a dirty spectacle” that cherry picks weapons of mass destruction from all other weapons that should also be banned.

The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 13 in favor, Russia opposed and China abstaining.

The resolution would have called on all countries not to develop or deploy nuclear arms or other weapons of mass destruction in space, as banned under a 1967 international treaty that included the U.S. and Russia, and to agree to the need to verify compliance.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said after the vote that Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space.

“Today’s veto begs the question: Why? Why, if you are following the rules, would you not support a resolution that reaffirms them? What could you possibly be hiding,” she asked. “It’s baffling. And it’s a shame.”

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia dismissed the resolution as “absolutely absurd and politicized,” and said it didn’t go far enough in banning all types of weapons in space.

Russia and China proposed an amendment to the U.S.-Japan draft that would call on all countries, especially those with major space capabilities, “to prevent for all time the placement of weapons in outer space, and the threat of use of force in outer spaces.”

The vote was 7 countries in favor, 7 against, and one abstention and the amendment was defeated because it failed to get the minimum 9 “yes” votes required for adoption.

The U.S. opposed the amendment, and after the vote Nebenzia addressed the U.S. ambassador saying: “We want a ban on the placement of weapons of any kind in outer space, not just WMDs (weapons of mass destruction). But you don’t want that. And let me ask you that very same question. Why?”

He said much of the U.S. and Japan’s actions become clear “if we recall that the U.S. and their allies announced some time ago plans to place weapons … in outer space.”

Nebenzia accused the U.S. of blocking a Russian-Chinese proposal since 2008 for a treaty against putting weapons in outer space.

Thomas-Greenfield accused Russia of undermining global treaties to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, irresponsibly invoking “dangerous nuclear rhetoric,” walking away from several of its arms control obligations, and refusing to engage “in substantive discussions around arms control or risk reduction.”

She called Wednesday’s vote “a real missed opportunity to rebuild much-needed trust in existing arms control obligations.”

Thomas-Greenfield’s announcement of the resolution on March 18 followed White House confirmation in February that Russia has obtained a “troubling” anti-satellite weapon capability, although such a weapon is not operational yet.

Putin declared later that Moscow has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space, claiming that the country has only developed space capabilities similar to those of the U.S.

Thomas-Greenfield said before the vote that the world is just beginning to understand “the catastrophic ramifications of a nuclear explosion in space.”

It could destroy “thousands of satellites operated by countries and companies around the world — and wipe out the vital communications, scientific, meteorological, agricultural, commercial, and national security services we all depend on,” she said.

The defeated draft resolution said “the prevention of an arms race in outer space would avert a grave danger for international peace and security.” It would have urged all countries carrying out activities in exploring and using outer space to comply with international law and the U.N. Charter.

The draft would have affirmed that countries that ratified the 1967 Outer Space Treaty must comply with their obligations not to put in orbit around the Earth “any objects” with weapons of mass destruction, or install them “on celestial bodies, or station such weapons in outer space.”

The treaty, ratified by some 114 countries, including the U.S. and Russia, prohibits the deployment of “nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction” in orbit or the stationing of “weapons in outer space in any other manner.”

The draft resolution emphasized “the necessity of further measures, including political commitments and legally binding instruments, with appropriate and effective provisions for verification, to prevent an arms race in outer space in all its aspects.”

It reiterated that the U.N. Conference on Disarmament, based in Geneva, has the primary responsibility to negotiate agreements on preventing an arms race in outer space.

The 65-nation body has achieved few results and has largely devolved into a venue for countries to voice criticism of others’ weapons programs or defend their own. The draft resolution would have urged the conference “to adopt and implement a balanced and comprehensive program of work.”

At the March council meeting where the U.S.-Japan initiative was launched, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned that “geopolitical tensions and mistrust have escalated the risk of nuclear warfare to its highest point in decades.”

He said the movie “Oppenheimer” about Robert Oppenheimer, who directed the U.S. project during World War II that developed the atomic bomb, “brought the harsh reality of nuclear doomsday to vivid life for millions around the world.”

“Humanity cannot survive a sequel to Oppenheimer,” the U.N. chief said.

United States Ambassador and Representative to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield addresses members of the U.N. Security Council before voting during a meeting on Non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, Wednesday, April 24, 2024 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

FILE - U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Tokyo. The U.N. Security Council is set to vote Wednesday, April 24, 2024, on a resolution announced by Thomas-Greenfield, calling on all nations to prevent a dangerous nuclear arms race in outer space. It is likely to be vetoed by Russia. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool, File)