US to host Iran-focused global summit in Poland February 13-14

The United States plans to jointly host a global summit focused on the Middle East, particularly Iran, next month in Poland, the US State Department said on Friday.

The gathering will take place in Warsaw from February 13 to February 14, it said in a statement.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News in an interview to air on Friday that the meeting would "focus on Middle East stability and peace and freedom and security here in this region, and that includes an important element of making sure that Iran is not a destabilizing influence."

Pompeo said the meeting would "bring together dozens of countries from all around the world, from Asia, from Africa, from Western Hemisphere countries, Europe too, the Middle East of course."

The State Department did not immediately respond when asked which countries would attend. Its statement said there were strong shared interests in Middle East stability.

"The ministerial will address a range of critical issues including terrorism and extremism, missile development and proliferation, maritime trade and security, and threats posed by proxy groups across the region," it said.

US President Donald Trump's top diplomat is visiting a number of Middle Eastern countries this week in an effort to shore up support in the region on a number of fronts, from the US troop withdrawal from Syria to the Saudi-Qatar rift to the killing of US-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Pompeo, in the middle of his eight-day trip through the region, has said the United States is "redoubling" its efforts to put pressure on Iran and sought to convince allies in the region that it was committed to fighting Islamic State despite Trump's recent decision to pull US troops out of Syria.

Pompeo told Fox News the summit would include representatives from countries around the world to address Iran's regional influence as the Trump administration has sought to pressure Tehran.

Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 Iran nuclear accord and moved to reimpose sanctions on Tehran, even as other partners in the deal - including China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom - have sought to maintain the agreement.

In a shift earlier this week, the European Union moved to impose some sanctions on Iran.