French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday called upon leaders of the US and Iran to meet to discuss the thorny nuclear issue.
“At a given point in time there will have to be a meeting between the American and Iranian president and I would wish that in the coming weeks such a meeting take place,” Macron said in a press briefing on Monday.
The French leader attended the presser alongside US President Donald Trump, who earlier said Iran has “got to be non-nuclear.”
French President, who hosted world leaders in the southwestern city of Biarritz for the 2019 G& Summit, hjad invited Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for talks on Sunday aimed at easing the tension between Washington and Tehran.
President Trump said he was not surprised by the move.
“I knew he was coming in and I respected the fact that he was coming in. And we’re looking to make Iran rich again, let them be rich, let them do well, if they want,” Trump said. “Or they can be poor as can be.
During his stay in France, Zarif held more than three hours of talks, including with French President Emmanuel Macron, before heading back to Tehran.
France, alongside Britain and Germany, is working to rescue the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iranian nuclear deal, from which the U.S. has unilaterally withdrawn since last year, raising the tension of the Gulf region.
Earlier on Sunday, President Macron told LCI television that he has obtained a mandate to deliver a message to Iran on behalf of the seven countries, following the leaders’ dinner on Saturday.
In his address on Monday, Macron said he was ready to be at the center of talks between the US and Iran to diffuse the tension.
“I’m ready to have a meeting to make a deal,” the French president. “I want this meeting to happen.”
(With input from Reuters)
