France- Macron Urges Iran To Reopen Negotiations

French President Emmanuel Macron has called his Iranian counterpart, President

Hassan Rouhani, to try and get Iran back at the negotiating table over their existing nuclear deal. Iran in response claimed that the existing seven-nation deal is non-negotiable.

French President Macron joins German Chancellor in their criticism of the existing deal achieved by former US President Obama as insufficient (Merkel had stated last week during her visit to the White House as well that the current deal in place didn’t meet all necessary requirements.

Related coverage: https://thegoldwater.com/news/24415-Germany-Merkel-Confirms-Current-Iran-Deal-Not-Sufficient-Video

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that he would decide by May 12th whether he will keep the 2015 deal which he labeled as "insane".

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Macron, Rouhani agree to work on saving Iran nuclear deal - Elysee <a href="https://t.co/PXIUaE2V77">https://t.co/PXIUaE2V77</a> <a href="https://t.co/2pQYPpwYGX">pic.twitter.com/2pQYPpwYGX</a></p>&mdash; Reuters Top News (@Reuters) <a href="https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/990684741233008641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2018</a></blockquote>

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President Macron meanwhile stated that he had a phone call of at least one hour with his Iranian counterpart, whom he has tried to convince that talks would have to be broadened to cover "three additional, indispensable subjects."

Those subjects would be (1) what happens in 2025 when the current deal expires (2) what is the future of Iran's involvement in current Middle Eastern conflicts (Syria and Saudi Arabia versus Yemen), and (3) what is Iran’s plan for its ballistic missile programme.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May added that she had agreed with her European counterparts that a good Iran deal would be "the best way of neutralizing the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran".

"They agreed that there were important elements that the deal does not cover, but which we need to address - including ballistic missiles, what happens when the deal expires, and Iran's destabilizing regional activity."

Source:

http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2018/04/29/pour-hassan-rohani-l-accord-sur-le-nucleaire-iranien-n-est-en-aucune-maniere-negociable_5292341_3218.html