Right-wing Polish government sides with Trump over Iran

Poland's new right-wing government said it is planning to defend the US government's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, within the European Union, where the decision has been strongly criticised.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Tuesday that Poland wants to be an "informal go-between" and to explain to EU members and US officials the positions of the other.

The Polish government's mediation offer departs somewhat from the united front EU leaders displayed last week in voicing their continued support for the landmark nuclear deal.

Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said on Monday during a visit to Washington that Poland stands with the rest of the EU in seeking actions to limit economic damage from the Trump administration's move, "while as for the strategic and security dimension, we also understand the US concerns".

This comes after the EU asserted that the current Iran deal cannot be substituted with a new one.

The EU's foreign policy chief warned Monday there was "no alternative" to the nuclear deal after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed unprecedented sanctions against Tehran following Washington's withdrawal from the pact.

Pompeo - a longtime Iran hawk and fierce opponent of the 2015 agreement - earlier on Monday outlined an aggressive series of "painful" measures designed to hurt Tehran, in his first key address since moving to the State Department from the CIA in April.

"Secretary Pompeo's speech has not demonstrated how walking away from the JCPOA (nuclear deal) has made or will make the region safer from the threat of nuclear proliferation or how it puts us in a better position to influence Iran's conduct in areas outside the scope of JCPOA," the EU's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement.