Vice President Pence met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Holocaust museum in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday where the two leaders laid wreaths in honor of those who died in the Warsaw ghetto uprising against the Nazis. At the event, Netanyahu told Pence that he "look[s] forward" to seeing the U.S.-crafted peace plan for Israel and the the Palestinian Authority that the U.S. is said to have finalized earlier this month, according to the Times of Israel. ADVERTISEMENT "I look forward to seeing the [US peace] plan once it is presented. I know that the Trump administration seeks to ensure the security of Israel for generations," Netanyahu said. "And even though I always say, based on the experience that we endured here, Israel must always be able defend itself by itself against any threat. It’s comforting to know that we have such a strong ally in the United States of America," he reportedly added. >> and even though I always say, based on the experience that we endured here [Warsaw Ghetto], Israel must always be able defend itself by itself against any threat. It’s comforting to know that we have such a strong ally in the United States of America." — Raphael Ahren (@RaphaelAhren) February 14, 2019 Information on Pence's remarks at the event was not immediately available. The White House did not immediately return a request for a transcript of the vice president's statements Thursday. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Mike PompeoThe Memo: Media face hard questions on Trump, Wuhan lab Trump on Wuhan lab: Now everyone agrees 'I was right' With denuclearization stalled, Biden should focus on human rights reform in North Korea MORE said earlier Thursday that any peace plan for Israel involving the Trump administration would only be possible by "confronting Iran." "You can’t get peace in the Middle East without pushing back against Iran," Pompeo said at a summit with the Israeli leader. "You can’t achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran. It’s just not possible."<doc-sep>By VANESSA GERA WARSAW, Poland (AP) — U.S. Vice President Mike Pence visited the memorial site of Auschwitz on Friday along with the Polish president and Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump, viewing a train car, crematoriums and the hair of victims that make it such a powerful testament to the evil that befell Europe in the last century. It was the first visit for Pence, a conservative Christian, to the site where German forces murdered 1.1 million people, most of them Jews but also Poles, Roma and others, during the Nazis’ occupation of Eastern Europe during World War II. Pence and his wife Karen were joined by Polish President Andrzej Duda and first lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda. “It seems to me to be a scene of unspeakable tragedy, reminding us what tyranny is capable of,” Pence said hours later during an event Friday evening on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany. “But it seems to me also to be a scene of freedom’s victory.” “I traveled in our delegation with people who had family members who had been at Auschwitz — some had survived, some not. But to walk with them and think that two generations ago their forebears came there in box carts and that we would arrive in a motorcade in a free Poland and a Europe restored to freedom from tyranny is an extraordinary experience for us, and I’ll carry it with me the rest of our lives,” Pence said. They began their visit by walking under the notorious gate with the German words “Arbeit Macht Frei,” the Nazi slogan meaning “Work sets you free.” There, they paused and turned toward reporters, who took their photos. Pence toured an exhibition hall that includes human hair and personal belongings of the victims before a wreath-laying at the Death Wall in a courtyard where prisoners were executed. Many of those shot there were Poles who were part of the underground resistance against the German occupation. The two couples walked side-by-side to the wall for the wreath laying. The Pences held hands and the vice president adjusted a banner reading “From The People of the United States of America.” Kushner was among a second group that then approached the wall and wreaths. The second part of the visit took them to the nearby satellite camp of Birkenau, the site of the murder of Jews from across Europe. Pence knelt and bowed his head, placing his hand on a historic red boxcar on the train tracks used to bring Jews to their deaths there. The couples also placed candles at a memorial to the Holocaust victims, with Pence wearing a Jewish skullcap. Poland’s chief rabbi recited a prayer to the dead and a Christian prayer was also recited. The visit came a day after Pence accused Britain, France, Germany and the European Union as a whole of trying to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran and called on the EU to join the Trump administration in withdrawing from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. He made those comments during a conference on the Mideast in Warsaw focused largely on Iran and which Tehran denounced as a hostile act. Several times during his visit Pence compared the evil of the Nazis to that of Iran today. He accused the regime in Tehran of “breathing out murderous threats with the same vile anti-Semitic hatred that animated the Nazis in Europe.” He added that “to be there to see the end result of that and understand all that happened there, I think will better prepare us and strengthen the resolve of the free world to oppose that kind of vile hatred and to confront authoritarian threats of our time.” Pence was on a four-day visit to Europe that also included meeting with Polish soldiers and American troops in Poland. ___ Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.<doc-sep>WARSAW, Poland – Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took the White House's aggressive anti-Iran message to a U.S.-sponsored meeting in Poland on peace and security in the Middle East that concluded Thursday. Pence used his address to the conference in Poland's capital of Warsaw to demand that European countries withdraw from the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that President Donald Trump's administration has already abandoned. He urged U.S. allies to back Washington's sanctions on Iran, re-imposed after Trump exited the 2015 accord last year. Long-standing U.S. allies in Europe favor staying in the deal and have sought ways to keep open trade and financial dealings with Iran. Disagreement over the issue is what partly led to Germany, France and other major U.S. allies not sending their top diplomats to the summit in Poland. "The authoritarian regime in Tehran represses the freedom of speech and assembly, persecutes religious minorities, brutalizes women, executes gays and openly advocates the destruction of the State of Israel," said Pence. "Iran endlessly spews hatred against Israel, our most cherished ally." Pompeo said that the Middle East "can’t achieve peace and security" in that region without first "confronting Iran." But precisely how far the U.S. is willing to take this confrontation or details of its strategy for keeping Iran in check remain wholly unclear. The U.S. officials spoke as foreign ministers and delegates from more than 60 countries gathered in Warsaw for the summit. However, the conference has drawn rebuke for honing in on Iran while ignoring and downplaying other regional actors. The topics under discussion included Israeli-Palestinian peace, conflicts in Syria and Yemen, and the turbulent issue of Iran. However, neither Pence nor Pompeo mentioned Saudi Arabia, Iran's regional foe, and a close U.S. ally with a poor human rights record and whose bombing campaign in Yemen has created the world's worst humanitarian disaster. Saudi Arabia has admitted killing The Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside its Istanbul consulate. "It's a very simple equation for me. I'm about make America great again and I'm about America first," Trump said in December in reply to repeated suggestions from media, rights watchdogs and lawmakers that he should be doing more to hold the Saudis accountable. The House easily approved a measure Wednesday that would force the Trump administration to end its military support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. More:In rebuke to Trump, House approves measure to force U.S. Yemen withdrawal Pompeo insisted in Warsaw that "pushing back" against Iran was central to dealing with all the region’s problems, a characterization that will do little to overturn perceptions the Trump administration is determined to see regime-change in Tehran, although Washington has consistently denied it is actively pursuing this course. The Trump administration accuses Iran of a range of destabilizing activities ranging from support for Shia militant groups in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen to the development of a ballistic missiles program. Washington does not believe that Iran has stopped enriching uranium for its nuclear weapons program despite repeated confirmation from international inspectors that it is abiding by the nuclear accord's terms. "It's not just a compliance issue," said Pence. "It's that the (Iran) deal was no good." "Iran is a country you can't rely on, do business with, can't trust," Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, told USA TODAY on the sidelines of a rally in Warsaw organized by an exiled Iranian opposition group. The former New York mayor is not taking part in the summit, but his views reflect those of many in Trump's inner circle, including National Security Adviser John Bolton, who has long advocated for an aggressive Iran approach. More:Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani's side project: Bashing Iran, in Poland More:Jared Kushner will try to sell Middle East peace plan to U.S. allies amid skepticism, scant details "An uncontrolled and unintended collapse of the Iranian regime will further destabilize the Middle East and further push back the hopes and aspirations of the Iranian people for democracy and freedom," Pooya Dayanim, an expert on Iran, wrote in a blog post this week for the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank. "However, Iranians revolted forty years ago and didn’t get the regime they were hoping for. If the Iranian people are to suffer through more sanctions or are to risk life and limb, they need to know why they are doing so and what future awaits them," he wrote, referring to persistent suggestions from Iran hawks in Trump's inner circle that Iran's government is one major protest away from collapsing. On Monday, Iran marked 40 years of its Islamic Republic. Tehran has denounced the conference as an American anti-Iran "circus." Russia and China are not attending and Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, is also skipping the event. Several high-profile Arab dignitaries are in Poland for the event, but Palestinians – not present – have called for it to be boycotted. Pompeo's comments echoed saber-rattling remarks by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who drew scrutiny on Wednesday when he made clear the conference is centered on Iran despite the far broader published agenda. "It is a conference that unites the United States, Israel, many countries in the world, many countries in the region, Arab countries, against Iran’s aggressive policy, its aggression, its desire to conquer the Middle East and destroy Israel," he told reporters. In an interview with reporters on a Warsaw street, Netanyahu also appeared to say "war" with Iran was a common goal of the summit's participants. Netanyahu used the Hebrew word "milchama," or "war," in his comments. His office later changed its translation and said he was referring to a "common interest of combatting Iran." Israel is Iran's arch-enemy and Netanyahu has long advocated for a confrontational approach to Iran. However, he has stopped short of calling for war. Senior White House aide Jared Kushner, who is also in Warsaw, said Thursday that details of the Israel-Palestinian peace plan that he has been working on for months would be released after Israel holds elections in early April.<doc-sep>WARSAW — Vice President Mike Pence used an American-convened conference on Middle East security to lash out at Washington’s three closest European allies on Thursday, accusing them of trying “to break American sanctions against Iran’s murderous revolutionary regime.” Mr. Pence delivered his critique of the allies, Britain, France and Germany, in an address at a Warsaw conference organized by the Trump administration. It was a remarkable, open breach with the European nations that, along with the United States, had negotiated the 2015 nuclear accord. All three nations argued that President Trump made a grave error in abandoning the treaty last year, saying that the Iranians were in compliance even as they continued to conduct missile and space rocket tests that were not covered by the accord. To the Europeans, it is Mr. Trump — not the Iranians — who was the first to break the agreement’s terms. Since then, they have been trying to persuade the Iranians to continue to comply with the deal, under which Tehran gave up 97 percent of its nuclear material and agreed not to produce any significant quantities of nuclear fuel until 2030. American intelligence agencies told Congress late last month that the Iranians were still in compliance.<doc-sep>
The US vice-president, Mike Pence, has sharply rebuked Washington’s European allies over their efforts to shield their businesses from US sanctions on Iran, as transatlantic tensions over US foreign policy were laid bare at a conference in Warsaw. A scheme the European Union has set up to facilitate trade with Iran was “an effort to break American sanctions against Iran’s murderous revolutionary regime”, Pence said during a conference on the Middle East organised by the US in the Polish capital. “It is an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU and create still more distance between Europe and the US,” he said. In an unusually blunt and fiery address, Pence called on what he described as “freedom-loving nations” to stand against Iranian “evil”, and went so far as to accuse the regional power of plotting a “new Holocaust”. The Warsaw meeting was attended by more than 60 nations, but major European powers such as Germany and France, parties to the landmark 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, refused to send their top diplomats. The US-led summit focused on Iran but also the Israeli-Palestinian issue, over which European leaders have expressed frustration at Donald Trump’s aid cuts and diplomatic attacks against Palestinians. The US was represented in Warsaw by Pence, Mike Pompeo, Washington’s top diplomat, and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and special aide on the Middle East. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, also attended. The Obama administration eased US sanctions on Iran under the terms of the nuclear deal, but Trump reimposed them when he withdrew the US from the agreement last year. “You can’t achieve stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran. It’s just not possible,” Pompeo told reporters after his formal opening statement. “There are malign influences in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq … The three H’s: the Houthis, Hamas and Hezbollah, these are real threats,” he said, referring to groups Iran supports. Netanyahu had earlier withdrawn a claim on his Twitter account, said to be the result of a mistranslation, that he was in Warsaw to discuss war with Iran. Pence praised other nations for complying with US sanctions by reducing Iranian oil imports, but said the Europeans fell short. “Sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as cooperative,” Pence said. “In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions.” Pence then called for Europe to abandon the nuclear agreement altogether, making explicit a demand that Trump administration officials had previously only hinted at. European diplomats at the conference rejected Pence’s accusations. “We strongly disagree,” a diplomat from a major European power told Reuters. Netanyahu described the opening dinner at which he sat alongside senior officials from Arab Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, as a “historical turning point”. Many Arab states do not recognise Israel but they have been driven together by their common fear of Iran. It remains to be seen how far the new alliance can extend to a combined approach to the Palestinian issue. It is expected Kushner will discuss his peace plan with Arab leaders in private as well as at a public session on the sidelines of the summit. Netanyahu has argued that the Arab world is open to normalised economic ties with Israel that are not dependent on a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Pompeo’s call in his opening speech for a new era of cooperation in the Middle East will be viewed with scepticism by EU leaders, who feel they were not consulted on the US decision to pull out of the Iran deal, or the planned withdrawal of 2,000 US troops from Syria. In a sign of transatlantic division, Niels Annen, a German minister of state for foreign affairs, said he was sceptical that the conference could deliver results on Iran. “I am hoping for constructive signals but nobody here has the expectation that this conference will solve problems,” he told reporters. The Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, described the Warsaw conference as “dead on arrival” and another attempt by the US to pursue an unfounded obsession with Iran. A former US ambassador to Sweden, Azita Raji, also dismissed the event, saying “conducting a lacklustre and rambling conference on the Middle East shows that it is amateur hour at the White House and is ultimately another blow to US prestige and leadership”.