Iran to dominate many Tillerson conversations in Europe next week

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks at a news conference during the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, January 16, 2018. REUTERS/Ben Nelms

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran will dominate many of U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's conversations in Europe next week, when he is visiting London, Paris, Warsaw and Davos, Switzerland, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Friday.

"Inevitably, Iran will dominate a lot of the conversations that the secretary has with our NATO allies and partners in Europe," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters. "We really emphasize close coordination with the British, in particular, and the French in our efforts to close the gaps (in the Iran nuclear deal) and in next steps on how we curtain Iranian malign influence in the (Middle East) region, so I think that will be a very high priority of his conversation."

(Reporting By Arshad Mohammed)