The US High Commissioner is coming to France on a tour of 7 difficult countries

PARIS (AP) – At the start of a seven-nation tour of Europe and the Middle East, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Paris on Saturday, congratulating Joe Biden on all the countries on his schedule. For his victory in the US presidential race.

The trip is aimed at elevating the priorities of President Donald Trump’s outgoing administration. This includes visits to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which have been avoided by previous foreign secretaries.

Top US diplomats – as well as its president and the majority of his Republicans – do not accept the results of the US election, and extraordinary circumstances will cover up the problems.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Friday noted “difficult lessons” from the situation in Iraq and Iran, terrorism, and the situation in the Middle East and China.

“For now, my opponent, Mike Pompeo, has until January 20 to mark the end of Trump’s term,” Le Trian told PFMTV. “He is coming to Paris. I get him. “

The meeting will take place on Monday, and Le Trian said Pompeo will also meet with French President Emmanuel Macron. Paris is in the midst of a lockdown aimed at reducing the spread of the corona virus.

The French president, who spoke with Biden four days ago to express congratulations, has a tense relationship with Trump. The two leaders initially worked to entice each other with gestures of revelry, meaning that Macron was Trump’s guest of honor at a Bastille day military parade. Trump then withdrew from the Paris Global Climate Agreement, which was a blow to Macron.

The United States also withdrew from the hard-won Iran nuclear deal, and Pompeo said in a tweet before leaving for his trip that “Iran’s unstable behavior” would be one of the topics of discussion.

In a visiting tweet in France on Saturday, Pompeo laid the solid diplomatic foundation for his Paris talks, noting that France is America’s “old friend and ally”. “The strong relationship between our countries cannot be overstated,” he tweeted.

Promoting religious freedom and countering terrorism were among the topics on the table during his trip, he tweeted. Both issues are very relevant to France. There have been three terrorist attacks in France in recent weeks that have killed four people, most recently linked to reprinted caricatures of the Prophet of Islam. Anti-French protests spread in some Muslim countries after Macron insisted on his country’s respect for freedom of expression, including the right to draw caricatures.

After France, Pompeo’s tour takes him to Turkey, Georgia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Leaders of those countries have extended public congratulations to Biden.

With the exception of France, Turkey, Georgia and Qatar, the Trump administration has severed ties, and it is unclear whether Pompeo planned to engage publicly with their leaders – or take questions from the press, with whom he had a frozen relationship.

Management’s relations with Turkey have deteriorated particularly since NATO’s purchase of a Russian missile defense system, and next week’s stoppage of Pompeo in Istanbul will not include meetings with Turkish officials. Instead, Pompeo will meet with religious leaders and highlight the promotion of religious freedom.

Palestinian officials, disappointed by the Trump administration, have condemned Pompeo’s plans to visit the West Bank settlement in Sacot. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtaye tweeted on Friday that it was a “dangerous precedent” for legalizing settlements.

Officials familiar with the process said that considering Trump’s refusal and ordering cabinet agencies not to cooperate with the Biden alternative committee, the State Department was not involved in facilitating Biden’s calls to foreign leaders.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Pompeo said he would continue as if there was no change.

“I am the secretary of state,” he said. “I get calls from all over the world. These people are watching our election. They understand that we have a legal process. They understand that this takes time. ”

However, his French opponent, Le Drian, is looking to the future. ”

___

Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.