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1 [1] (March 12, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govyfg0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service Informing the legislative debate since 1914 March 12, 2019 Coalition-Building Against Iran Overview and Analysis As part of its efforts to maximize pressure on Iran, the Trump Administration is urging a wide variety of international actors to adopt Iran policies similar and complementary to those of the United States. The Administration arguably is attempting to isolate Iran politically and diplomatically by fashioning a multilateral coalition of the willing consisting of U.S. allies and partners in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. It is implementing its strategy in international issue-focused meetings, special U.S.-organized and long established multilateral forums such as the United Nations, and bilateral discussions. One particular, although not exclusive, goal is to persuade the other JCPOA parties to follow the Trump Administration's May 2018 step of abrogating the multilateral nuclear agreement with Iran (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA), and reimpose economic sanctions. However, the U.S. effort to fashion a broad coalition to isolate Iran appears to be faltering. Major U.S. partners in Europe, in particular, have expressed resistance to joining the U.S.-led pressure strategy. They argue that the JCPOA-to which Iran and the non-U.S. parties (UK, France, Germany, EU, Russia, and China)-still adhere, continues to serve its nonproliferation objectives. Countries in Asia, which depend partly on Iran's energy resources, have sought to maintain their relations with the United States while at the same time pressing the United States not to impose sanctions on their transactions with Iran. On the other hand, U.S. partners in the Middle East, which also seek to limit Iran's strategic influence in the region, back the Administration's Iran policy. The February 2019 Warsaw Ministerial As part of an escalation of its efforts to isolate and pressure Iran, the Administration announced in January 2019 that it and the Polish government would host a ministerial meeting in Warsaw on February 13-14, 2019. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo announced while visiting Cairo 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. The European official response to the meeting announcement was tepid in light of the EU's repeatedly stated commitment to preserving the JCPOA, and Administration officials subsequently refocused the ministerial on a broader discussion of the various regional conflicts and issues in an attempt to encourage wide high-level participation. Although 62 countries attended the Ministerial to Promote a Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East, Germany and France sent only mid-ranking diplomats to the meeting. UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt attended briefly, and only on condition that he could chair a session on the conflict in Yemen. Russia not only declined to attend, but also organized a seemingly rival, simultaneous meeting in Sochi, Russia, with Turkey and Iran (which was not invited to the Warsaw meeting) to discuss the situation in Syria, where Russia and Iran have both supported the regime of President Bashar al-Asad against an armed rebellion that began in 2011. China also did not attend the Warsaw meeting. Arab partners of the United States sent their foreign ministers to the conference, and they met there with Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who strongly supports Trump Administration Iran policy. These interactions were notable given that most Arab states have long publicly shunned Israeli leaders. Rather than solidify a U.S.-EU coalition against Iran, the Warsaw meeting exposed significant differences on that issue among the historic allies. In specific comments quoted below, Vice President Mike Pence called on the EU countries to abrogate the JCPOA outright and accused them of undermining U.S. sanctions by setting up new mechanisms to facilitate trade with Iran. Excerpts from Speech by Vice President Mike Pence at the Warsaw Ministerial Working Luncheon. Warsaw Poland, February 14, 2019: 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. 'just two weeks ago Germany. France, and the United Kingdom announced the creation of a special financing mechanism designed to oversee a mirror-image transaction that would replace sanctionable international payments between EU businesses and Iran. They call this scheme o 'Special Purpose Vehicle. We call it on effort to break American sanctions against Iran's murderous revolutionary regime. It's on ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU, and create still more distance between Europe and the United States. The CPOA and Pro ferat on The Administration also has tried to build global support for its Iran policy within established international fora. At the March 5, 2019, meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors, the United States sought to directly challenge the main EU rationale for remaining in the JCPOA-the IAEA's assertion that Iran is fully complying. The U.S. representative to the IAEA, Jackie Wolcott, highlighted Israel's capture of https://crsreports.congress.go\ 0