Germany and the Netherlands have suspended their military training programmes in Iraq because of a perceived security threat in the wake of rising US-Iranian tensions in the region.

The announcements came after the US embassy in Baghdad ordered all but emergency staff to leave Iraq. No details of the supposed security threat were provided.

A German defence ministry spokesman, Jens Flosdorff, said that by pausing its small-scale training missions north of Baghdad and the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, Germany was “orienting itself toward our partner countries, which have taken this step”.

However, Flosdorff said the move was not a response to a “concrete threat” but rather to a general security situation being viewed as more tense.

The Dutch public broadcaster, NOS, reported that the country’s 50-strong mission, mostly involved in training Kurdish fighters, had been halted “until further orders”, but quoted a defence ministry spokesman as saying he could not elaborate on the nature of the threat.

German and Dutch officials did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday morning. Neither country has followed the US example and withdrawn diplomats from their embassies in Iraq.

In their public pronouncements, European capitals have generally voiced anxiety at the rising US-Iranian tensions, but European diplomats overwhelmingly blame the Donald Trump administration for seeking to provoke a confrontation. US allies have conspicuously avoided echoing US claims of an imminent threat from Iran.

The UK and US military have given strikingly different views of the security situation for coalition forces in Iraq and Syria. The UK defence ministry stood by British Maj Gen Christopher Ghika, who was rebuked by US central command on Tuesday for insisting there was no increased threat from Iranian-aligned militias in the region.

“Maj Gen Ghika speaks as a military officer in the US-led coalition focused on the fight against Daesh [Isis] in Iraq and Syria. His comments are based on the day to day military operations and his sole focus is the enduring defeat of Daesh,” the ministry said in a statement, which did not directly address the question of whether the security threat had increased.

“He made clear in his Pentagon briefing that “there are a range of threats to American and coalition forces in this part of the world. There always have been, that is why we have a very robust range of force protection measures. The UK has long been clear about our concerns over Iran’s destabilising behaviour in the region.”

The New York Times on Wednesday quoted an unnamed American official as saying an increased Iranian threat was “small stuff” that did not merit the military build-up advocated by the national security adviser, John Bolton. The official said the “ultimate goal of the year-long economic sanctions campaign by the Trump administration was to draw Iran into an armed conflict with the United States”, according to the report.

Democrats in Congress have raised similar concerns, pointing to the parallels between the current US actions and the buildup to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, in which Bolton played a supporting role.

“Iran is and has been for decades a malevolent actor and a state sponsor of terror,” Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House intelligence committee, told the Washington Post. “But I’m also gravely concerned about actions taken by the administration that appear calculated to put us on a collision course.”

In recent days there have been sabotage attacks against oil tankers, two of them Saudi-owned, in the Persian Gulf, and Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed responsibility for drone strikes against Saudi oil installations. The Houthis receive backing from Iran but most experts say they are not directly controlled from Tehran.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, insisted that “no one is seeking war”, but in the same speech he also ruled out negotiations with the US, saying such talks would be “poison” – an apparent response to Trump’s suggestion that the Iranian leadership call him directly.

Khamenei also repeated Iran’s threat to enrich uranium beyond the 3.67% limit agreed in a multilateral nuclear deal in 2015, which Trump abrogated last year, if US does not ease its oil embargo and other sanctions. He made clear Iran could even go beyond its previous boundary of 20% enrichment, beyond which it becomes increasingly easy to attain weapons grade, above 90%.

“Achieving 20% enrichment is the most difficult part,” Khamenei said, according to an Iranian press report. “The next steps are easier than this step.” </s> and the said Wednesday they were halting their training of soldiers in as tensions rise between neighbouring and the

"The has suspended the training," said, adding that there was "generally heightened alert, awareness" for soldiers currently operating in the region.

Flosdorff said training may resume in the next few days and that there was "no concrete threat" at the moment.

has about 160 soldiers deployed in Iraq, including 60 in Taji, just to the north of Baghdad, and 100 in Erbil, in Kurdish-controlled northern territory.

Separately, the Netherlands' defence ministry said it was also suspending its training mission in due to "threats", the Dutch ANP agency said.

More than 50 Dutch soldiers are training Kurdish troops in Erbil in the context of the international coalition against the Islamic State group, ANP said.

The defence ministry website says the also supplies two military advisers and four civilian experts to the NATO "capacity-building mission" in

Lithuania, which has eight soldiers in Iraq, said it did not plan to halt its mission. </s> Great Britain also issued security alert for its personnel in Iraq. The threat leveal was raised for UK troops and diplomats in Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia as well.

Earlier this week the US State Department ordered the departure of "non-emergency government employees" from Baghdad and Erbil after US Central Command spokesman Bill Urban that the US-led coalition was on high alert because it saw credible threats to American forces in Iraq.

READ MORE: Iran Reminds of US Lies Before Iraq War, Hints US Official Behind Scaremongering

However, British Maj. Gen. Christopher Ghika, who is a deputy commander of the coalition forces, stated that the threat level by Iranian-backed groups against the troops in Iraq and Syria has not risen.

The news comes after the US increased its military presence in the Middle East amid growing tensions with Tehran, sending an aircraft carrier strike group to the Persian Gulf.

READ MORE: Russian FM: Iran Had the Right to Partially Suspend Nuclear Deal Commitments

According to White House National Security Adviser John Bolton, Washington is fully prepared to "respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces".

In the meantime, the Islamic Republic has suspended certain obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal, giving five remaining signatories — France, the UK, Russia, China, and Germany — a 60-day deadline to take measures towards ensuring the country's interests amid US sanctions. </s> OTTAWA—Canada’s defence minister is calling for calmer heads to prevail as a war of words between the U.S. and Iran threatens to turn into a war of bullets and bombs. Such a conflict could easily spill over into Iraq and the surrounding region, where around 850 Canadian soldiers are deployed as part of the war against Daesh, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

“What we would like to see is de-escalation of this and bring it back from a military conversation and back into the diplomatic sphere,” Harjit Sajjan said in an interview with The Canadian Press from Brussels Thursday, where he was concluding two days of meetings with counterparts from across NATO. The dispute revolves around U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from an agreement his predecessor Barack Obama signed with Iran that limits Iran’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions. Iran has since been accused of attacking several oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman and is on the verge of stockpiling more uranium than the agreement allowed. The U.S. has imposed new sanctions and launched a cyberattack on an Iranian militia.

The two sides appeared close to blows last week after Iran shot down a U.S. military drone. Trump said he nearly ordered retaliatory strikes against the country but reversed course after advisers told him those would kill 150 Iranians.

Fears nonetheless persist over the potential for a conflict, which would almost certainly have ramifications across the broader Middle East — including in neighbouring Iraq, where Iran has a sizable influence. Part of that influence comes from Iran’s support for various Shia Muslim militia groups, which helped defeat the Sunni Daesh but owe their allegiance more to Tehran than Baghdad and could be a threat to western forces if war broke out. While Sajjan expressed confidence about the safety of Canadian military personnel in the region, “nonetheless, from the military side, we’ll be closely monitoring things to make sure our people remain safe.” The federal government this week announced Canada will lead a NATO training mission in Iraq until November 2020. That mission involves 250 Canadian Forces members who are working with Iraqi security forces.

Canada has another 600 troops in Iraq and across the region, including special-forces soldiers, medical personnel and helicopter crews in the country, air-transport crews in Kuwait and more trainers in Lebanon and Jordan. Those troops are scheduled to stay in the area until March 2021.

While most of Canada’s effort in Iraq involves working with Iraqi government forces, officials for Iraq’s semi-independent Kurdish region have said they would also welcome Canadian military assistance. Canadian special forces trained and advised the Kurdish peshmerga forces for three years in defending their region against Daesh before working together to free large swathes of territory from Daesh’s grasp. But Canada suspended and then ended its work with the peshmerga after an outbreak of violence between them and Iraqi government forces in October 2017 over control of oil-rich territory in the north of the country. While Canada continues to have a good relationship with the Iraqi Kurds, Sajjan said the Canadian military has shifted its focus to working with Iraqi government forces. “We worked with the (Kurds) very closely when it came to the defence of that region because that’s where it was needed,” he said. “Now the support is actually needed within the Mosul region and the capacity-building that we’re doing with (the Iraqi military). So the work that we’re doing is situation-dependent.” </s> The Latest: UK raises threat level for its personnel in Iraq

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Latest on developments in the Persian Gulf region and elsewhere in the Mideast amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran (all times local):

Sky News is reporting that the U.K. has raised the threat level for British personnel in Iraq because of a heightened risk from Iran.

Sky also said on Thursday that British forces and diplomats in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar have also been placed on an increased state of alert.

The Ministry of Defense declined to comment. But it said Wednesday that it recognizes threats in the region to British, American and coalition forces and acts accordingly.

The ministry says it keeps "the security of our deployed personnel and assets under constant review" and that it has a "very robust range of force protection measures."

It says that Britain "has long been clear about our concerns over Iran's destabilizing behavior in the region."

A state-aligned Saudi newspaper is calling for "surgical" U.S. strikes in retaliation against alleged threats from Iran.

The Arab News published an editorial in English on Thursday, arguing that after incidents this week against Saudi energy targets, the next logical step "should be surgical strikes."

The editorial says U.S. airstrikes in Syria, when the government there was suspected of using chemical weapons against civilians, "set a precedent."

It added that it's "clear that (U.S.) sanctions are not sending the right message" and that "they must be hit hard," in reference to Iran, without elaborating on what specific targets should be struck.

The newspaper's publisher is the Saudi Research and Marketing Group, a company that had long been chaired by various sons of King Salman until 2014 and is regarded as reflecting official position.

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations says the Islamic Republic is not interested in escalating regional tensions but has the "right to defend ourselves."

Majid Takht-e Ravanchi made the comments in an interview Thursday on NPR's "Morning Edition."

Ravanchi said: "We are not interested in the escalation of tensions in our region. If something goes wrong, everyone loses."

However, he added: "It is our right to be prepared. It is our right to defend ourselves." He accused the U.S. and regional nations of airing "false allegations" about Iran.

In recent days, the United Arab Emirates has alleged four oil tankers off its east coast were targeted in sabotage attacks, while Iranian-allied rebels in Yemen launched a coordinated drone attack on Saudi Arabia.

The U.S. has sent an aircraft carrier and bombers into the Mideast to counter a still-unexplained threat it perceives from Tehran.

Iran says it has successfully tested a firewall to prevent cyberattacks on industrial facilities.

Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi said in a post on his Instagram page that the firewall was designed by Iranian students, without providing further details.

Iran blamed Israel for a cyberattack on its communications infrastructure in November.

The Islamic Republic moved to boost its cyber capabilities in 2011 after the Stuxnet computer virus destroyed thousands of centrifuges involved in its contested nuclear program. Stuxnet is widely believed to be an American and Israeli creation.

Yemen's Health Ministry has raised the death toll from early morning airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition, saying six people were killed, including four children.

The ministry says 41 people were also wounded, including two women of Russian nationality.

Thursday's airstrikes came after Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who control the capital, launched a drone attack Tuesday on a critical oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia, Tehran's biggest rival in the region.

Meanwhile, Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman wrote on Twitter on Thursday that Tehran had ordered "the terrorist acts" carried out by the Houthis against the oil pipeline.

He said the attack proves the Houthis "are merely a tool that Iran's regime uses to implement its expansionist agenda in the region."

A Yemeni medic and residents of the country's capital, Sanaa, say at least three people, including a child, were killed in Saudi-led airstrikes on the city earlier in the morning.

Thursday's airstrikes came two days after Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who control the capital, launched a drone attack on a critical oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia, Tehran's biggest rival in the region.

In Sanaa, people scrambled to pull 14 wounded from the rubble of a building hit by one of the airstrikes in the al-Raqas neighborhood.

A medic at the al-Manar city hospital said bodies of three civilians killed in the strikes were brought to the hospital morgue. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.

Fawaz Ahmed, a middle-aged broker, told The Associated Press he saw the three bodies being retrieved from the rubble — a father, his child and his wife, all buried together.

Residents in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa are saying there has been a wave of airstrikes that have hit targets in the city this morning, including a residential house. They say there are casualties, including civilians.

The residents say the airstrikes started early on Thursday, with coalition jets bombing military sites belonging to the rebel Houthis who have been at war with the coalition since 2015.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

On Wednesday, Iran-aligned Houthi rebels launched a coordinated drone attack on a critical oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia, Tehran's biggest rival in the region. It was the latest incident to shake global energy markets.

The Qatar-funded satellite news broadcaster Al-Jazeera says that Doha is trying to "defuse escalating tensions" across the Persian Gulf.

Al-Jazeera cited an anonymous official on Wednesday night as saying that Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani had traveled to Tehran in recent days to speak with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Al-Jazeera said the U.S. was aware of the trip in advance, but did not elaborate further. FlightRadar24.com, a flight-tracking website, showed a Qatari government airplane landed in Tehran on Saturday.

Qatar hosts the forward headquarters of the U.S. military's Central Command at its vast Al-Udeid Air Base. Several of the B-52 bombers ordered by the White House to the region amid the latest escalation between Washington and Tehran are stationed there.

Qatar has grown closer to Iran diplomatically amid it begin boycotted by four Arab nations over a political dispute.

Iran's foreign minister says his country is committed to an international nuclear deal but that the escalating U.S. sanctions are "unacceptable."

The remarks come amid rising tensions in the Mideast, with allegations of sabotage targeting oil tankers near the Persian Gulf, a drone attack by Yemen's Iranian-allied rebels and the dispatch of U.S. warships and bombers to the region.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif told Japanese officials on Thursday in Tokyo that his country's response to the U.S. actions is within the frameworks of the current nuclear deal and Iran's rights.

Iran recently threatened to resume higher enrichment in 60 days if no new nuclear deal is in place, beyond the level permitted by the current one between Tehran and world powers. The U.S. pulled out of the deal last year. </s> Canada has 850 military personnel in Iraq and the surrounding region involved in that effort against ISIL

Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan fields questions at the opening news conference of the Halifax International Security Forum in Halifax on Friday, Nov. 16, 2018. The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan

Canada will lead a NATO training mission in Iraq until November 2020 after the federal government approved an extension to the operation.

READ MORE: Committee calls on Canada to co-operate with NATO to respond to Russia in Arctic

News of the extension comes as Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and his counterparts from other NATO countries are in Brussels to discuss the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Canada has 850 military personnel in Iraq and the surrounding region involved in that effort against ISIL, including 250 who are training the Iraqi military as part of the NATO mission.

The extremist group remains a threat despite having lost of all its territory in Iraq and Syria, where it continues to conduct suicide bombings and other insurgent attacks.

Canada has been leading the NATO training mission since last July and was set to hand over the reins to another country at the end of this month, but will now lead until November 2020.

The extension is only the latest involving the Canadian military in Iraq after the federal government promised to keep the other 600 troops in the war-ravaged country until March 2021.

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. </s> CAPITOL HILL — U.S. President Donald Trump says there is “no infighting whatsoever” about his Middle East policies and that as tensions with Iran continue, he is “sure that Iran will want to talk soon.”

Trump responded to reports in the Washington Post and New York Times about clashing opinions between those in his administration who see Iran taking clear steps in preparation to attack U.S. forces, and other officials, including some from European allies, who argue the Iranian moves are defensive precautions in response to U.S. actions toward Iran.

“Different opinions are expressed and I make a decisive and final decision,” Trump tweeted. “All sides, views, and policies are covered.”

Trump decided last year to withdraw from an international agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, and applied fresh actions to cut off Iran’s oil and banking sectors in an attempt to alter the Iranian government’s behavior.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Thursday that “the escalation by the United States is unacceptable and uncomfortable,” and that despite the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal, Iran is exercising “maximum restraint.”

The United States has ordered its non-essential employees to leave the country’s embassy in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and its consulate in Irbil as the Trump administration warned of threats against American forces in the Middle East from Iran or Iranian-backed proxies.

“There are only two reasons for ordering their departure: we have credible intelligence that our people are at risk or in preparation for military action in Iran,” the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s top Democrat, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, said. “The Trump administration has not provided any information to this committee on the intelligence behind their decisions or what they plan to do in Iraq or Iran.”

Menendez demanded the officials bring panel members up to date on “any plans to go to war with Iran.”

Committee chairman, Idaho Republican James Risch, said he, personally, has been briefed on the unfolding situation in the Middle East and said a briefing of the full U.S. Senate was “in the works.”

The United States is not alone in curtailing activities in Iraq. Germany and the Netherlands say they are suspending military training operations in the country, although Berlin said it had no signals of its own that a threat against Western interests in Iraq was imminent. The Dutch government cited an unspecified security threat in curtailing its training operations.

Trump has rejected a report that he is considering sending 120,000 troops to counter Iran but didn’t rule out deploying “a lot more” soldiers in the future.

“I think it’s fake news,” Trump said of The New York Times report. “Now, would I do that? Absolutely. But we have not planned for that.”

The Pentagon has dispatched an aircraft carrier and nuclear-capable bomber planes to the region in the past few days, with a Patriot missile battery and a landing platform dock ship on the way. The Patriot system offers protection from aircraft and missiles, while the LPD carries Marines and the aircraft, hovercraft or boats needed to put them ashore to fight in distant places.

But a major U.S. ally in the region, the United Arab Emirates, says it will show “restraint” in the face of Iranian aggression.

The United States suspects Iran was behind the sabotage of four foreign vessels Sunday off the UAE coast. Two Saudi oil tankers were among those damaged.

“We need to emphasize caution and good judgment,” UAE Foreign Affairs Minister Anwar Gargash said Wednesday. “It is easy to throw accusations, but it is a difficult situation. There are serious issues and among them is Iranian behavior.”

He said the UAE will not publicly speculate who was behind the sabotage while the investigation is under way.

Meanwhile, a senior British officer in the U.S.-led military coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria said Tuesday he has not seen an increased threat to his troops by Iranian-backed forces in Iraq or Syria.

Major General Chris Ghika’s statement to reporters contradicts the Trump administration, which has asserted for more than a week that it has detected potential Iranian threats against U.S. forces in the Middle East.

“This seems like an escalation with no endgame,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said, describing the pressure campaign on Tehran as “ham-handed.” </s> The Latest: Oil tanker stopped off Gibraltar at US request

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The Latest on U.S.-Iran tensions (all times local):

Spain's caretaker foreign minister says a tanker stopped off Gibraltar and suspected of taking oil to Syria was intercepted by British authorities after a request from the United States.

Josep Borrell told reporters in Madrid on Thursday that Spain is assessing the implications of the operation because the detention took place in waters it considers its own.

The British overseas territory at the tip of Spain said the port and law enforcement agencies, assisted by the Royal Marines, boarded the Grace 1 early Thursday.

Gibraltar's government says the vessel was believed to be headed to the Baniyas Refinery in Syria, a government-owned facility under the control of Syrian President Bashar Assad and subject to the EU's Syrian Sanctions Regime. A statement didn't say where the Gibraltar authorities got that information.

Britain insists Gibraltar is part of the United Kingdom but Spain argues that it is not.

One of the largest Iran-backed militias in Iraq is criticizing an order by the prime minister to incorporate the militias into the military and place them under the army's command.

A statement issued by the Hezbollah Brigades, or Kataeb Hezbollah, did not address whether the group would abide by Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi's orders issued this week. It suggested, however, that "criminalizing the mujahedeen" and harming them directly or indirectly may hurt "those elements supporting the security effort."

The group, which has close ties to Iran, says the government's foremost responsibility is to remove what it described as U.S. occupation forces and their business affiliates, which constitute a "major threat" to Iraqi security.

The U.S. maintains military bases and more than 5,000 troops in Iraq.

Iran's intelligence minister says any negotiations with the United States would have to be approved by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and would require the lifting of U.S. sanctions.

Khamenei has until now ruled out talks with the United States, saying it cannot be trusted.

On Thursday, the official IRNA news agency quoted Information Minister Mahmoud Alavi as saying "if the supreme leader permits, negotiations between Iran and the United States will be held." He added, however, that Tehran would not negotiate under pressure.

Tensions have escalated since President Donald Trump withdrew America from Iran's nuclear deal last year and restored heavy sanctions. The U.S. has recently moved a carrier group, bombers and fighter jets to the Persian Gulf, and last month Iran shot down a U.S. surveillance drone.

The government of Gibraltar says it has detained a large tanker that is believed to be breaching European Union sanctions by carrying a shipment of Iranian crude oil to war-ravaged Syria.

In a statement, authorities on the British overseas territory said port and law enforcement agencies, assisted by the Royal Marines, boarded the Grace 1 super tanker early Thursday.

It added that the vessel was believed to be headed to the Banyas Refinery in Syria, which is part of an entity subject to the EU's Syrian Sanctions Regime. The EU and others have imposed sanctions on President Bashar Assad's government over its continued crackdown against dissent. They currently target 270 people and 70 entities.

Gibraltar's chief minister, Fabian Picardo, says he has informed the EU about developments. </s> LONDON (AP) — Gone, at least for now, are the halcyon days when strong military and political ties between Britain and the United States meant that Washington could assume it had a staunch partner for standing up to a foreign foe.

Dating back to World War II and including joint actions against Kosovo, Afghanistan and the two wars against Iraq, U.S. leaders have been able to count on Britain to take part in invasions and airstrikes, and to help persuade sometimes cautious European allies to offer political and logistical support.

The Trump administration was expecting similar support over what it calls an increased threat from Iran, but this hope has been swatted down — not with anonymous whispers but by public comments from top British officials.

In an unusually blunt challenge from Britain, Maj. Gen. Chris Ghika denied the U.S. assertion of an increased threat from Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt also warned that the heated rhetoric could lead to an "accidental" war between the U.S. and Iran.

Those remarks brought Britain closely into line with other European nations that want a focus on diplomacy, not escalation. Europe wants to salvage a nuclear containment deal with Iran, not ratchet up tensions.

The very public display of disunity comes as President Donald Trump prepares to travel to Britain and France next month to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, often cited as a shining example of the value of trans-Atlantic cooperation.

Peter Beyer, the German government's coordinator for trans-Atlantic relations, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Germany is working closely with its European allies to "calm the situation in the Persian Gulf" before it gets out of hand.

"Our goal remains to keep the Iran nuclear deal in place," he said, referring to the deal that world powers reached with Iran in 2015 to constrain its nuclear development. Trump has abandoned the deal, frustrating Britain, France and Germany, whose leaders believe it offers the best way to prevent nuclear proliferation in the unstable Middle East.

Beyer said Germany's foreign minister met privately in Brussels with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday and "outlined very clearly that we do not want any type of military escalation."

In a newspaper interview to be published Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany, France and Britain are taking "a different approach" from the U.S. on Iran, adding that in this instance the three countries "have common interests" with Russia and China.

Britain's ability to influence Trump on its own seems particularly weak at the moment because the government is in disarray over its stalled Brexit divorce plan from the EU, and Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will step down once the withdrawal becomes a reality.

Some European diplomats say privately that Pompeo was unconvincing when he met separately with several European foreign ministers and that there is little comprehension of what U.S. officials hope to achieve by putting maximum pressure on Iran at a time when its economy is already suffering under sanctions.

The meetings with Pompeo seemed to be thrown together at the last minute rather than a carefully choreographed diplomatic encounter.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told lawmakers that putting intense pressure on Iran adds to the risk of an unintended escalation.

"What has happened in recent days — acts of sabotage against ships or pipelines — are indications that these dangers (of escalation) are concrete and real," he said.

For now, the EU refuses to be drawn into the war of words. Under the nuclear agreement, which is backed by a U.N. Security Council resolution, the International Atomic Energy Agency reports every few months on whether Iran is in compliance with the terms of the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

A new report is due at the end of May, and the Europeans are waiting to see what its conclusions will be, rather than endorsing the U.S. position.

In the meantime, Europeans have been trying to keep supply lines open to Iran. They have set up a complicated barter-type system to skirt direct financial transactions with Tehran to try to evade possible U.S. sanctions.

The plan, run jointly by Britain, France and Germany, is not yet operational, but the fact that the three influential nations banded together to come up with a way to frustrate U.S. sanctions is one more sign that the alliances that helped rebuild western Europe after World War II are being tested as never before.

Rising reported from Berlin. Associated Press writers Geir Moulson in Berlin and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed.
Germany and the Netherlands suspend military training mission in Iraq citing escalating tensions in the region with Iran.