Pompeo in UK to strengthen 'special relationship'
May 8, 2019
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo planned to discuss "shared global priorities" with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday, said the US State Department as the former CIA chief touched down in London.
After deleting Berlin from his Tuesday schedule due to "pressing issues," Pompeo said his itinerary change was prompted an Iranian intention to stage "imminent" attacks on US interests in the Middle East.
Iran replied to US navel and air force deployments on Wednesday by saying it would partially suspend its compliance with a 2015 nuclear restraint deal pursued by Germany and France.
In a Twitter message, Pompeo said his surprise visit to Iraq instead of Germany had been used "to underline the need for Iraq to protect diplomatic facilities & Coalition personnel."
Britain, another party to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, said Pompeo was also meeting Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
Huawei on the agenda
Last week, May fired her defense minister Gavin Williamson over an alleged leak of details of a secret UK government decision to let the Chinese giant Huawai supply "no core" elements for Britain's new 5G wireless network.
Pompeo, whose talks with May were also likely to focus on Huawei, had already told intelligence-sharing allies that Washington opposes its inclusion.
The US, Australia and New Zealand – partners in the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing community –
have reportedly decided they cannot deal with Huawei.
ipj/rt (AFP, Reuters, dpa, AP)