U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence rebuked European powers over Iran and Venezuela on Saturday in a renewed attack on Washington’s traditional allies, rejecting a call by Germany’s Chancellor to include Russia in global cooperation efforts.

Describing the results of Donald Trump’s presidency as ”remarkable” and “extraordinary”, Mr. Pence told senior European and Asian officials the EU should follow the U.S. in quitting the Iran nuclear deal and recognising the head of Venezuela’s Congress, Juan Guaidó, as the country’s President.

‘America is leading’

“America is stronger than ever before and America is leading on the world stage once again,” Mr. Pence told officials at the Munich Security Conference, listing what he described as U.S. foreign policy successes from Afghanistan to North Korea.

Mr. Pence — who last week during a visit to Poland accused Britain, Germany and France of undermining U.S. sanctions on Iran — repeated his demand that European powers withdraw from the deal. “The Iranian regime openly advocates another Holocaust and it seeks the means to achieve it,” Mr. Pence, who also visited the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, told delegates.

“The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal and join with us as we bring the economic and diplomatic pressure,” Mr. Pence said.

Mr. Pence, who used his trip to Europe to push Mr. Trump’s policy of favouring sovereign states as opposed to alliances and blocs, took aim at the European Union (EU) as a whole, saying “once more the Old World can take a strong stand in support of freedom in the New World” in Venezuela.

His speech contrasted sharply with German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s robust defence of Germany’s foreign trade relations and ties with Russia, urging global leaders meeting in Munich to work together to tackle the world’s problems.

Speaking before Pence, Ms. Merkel questioned whether the U.S. decision to leave the Iran nuclear deal and withdrawal from Syria was the best way to tackle Tehran in the region. She defended plans for a new natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany that Mr. Pence again criticised. Mr. Trump has accused Germany of being a “captive” of Russia due to its reliance on Russian energy, but Merkel argued: “If during the Cold War... we imported large amounts of Russian gas, I don’t know why times should be so much worse today that we can say: Russia remains a partner.”