Pompeo meets British counterpart on Russia, Iran

The US State Department said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has met his British counterpart Jeremy Hunt to discuss the "threat" of Russia and Iran's regional influence.

According to a statement, issued on Wednesday, by State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert, Pompeo and Hunt "discussed a number of global issues, including the ongoing threat posed by Russia's dangerous and destabilizing activity and Iran's malign behavior, the defeat IS campaign, as well as the humanitarian situation in Yemen," Xinhua reported.

Nauert said that "as close allies, the two committed to deepening cooperation on security and foreign policy issues and welcomed the prospect of a future free trade agreement."

After their meeting, Pompeo and Hunt expressed their gratitude to US diplomats expelled by Russia after the Western joint response to Russia's alleged use of a chemical weapon in an attempted murder case in Britain.

Relations between Russia and the West deteriorated over the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain earlier this year. Moscow and London have been trading accusations of involvement in the attack.

Following the incident, more than two dozens of Western countries, including the United States, expelled large numbers of Russian diplomats from their countries.

Russia denied its involvement in the case repeatedly, and expelled the equal number of foreign diplomats in response.

--IANS

pgh/