Macron expects meeting between Trump, Rouhani

By Yusuf Ozcan

BIARRITZ, France (AA) - French president said Monday he wants the U.S. and Iranian leaders to meet in the following weeks and the conditions had been created for that.

Speaking in a joint press conference with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump in the last day of G7 summit on Monday, Emmanuel Macron said he agreed with Trump that Iran should fulfill its obligations on the nuclear deal.

"I want a meeting to take place between Trump and [Iranian President Hassan] Rouhani in the following weeks," Macron said.

He added that conditions have been created for a meeting and an agreement between the two countries.

"Iran must never have nuclear weapons and threaten the stability of the region," Macron said.

Macron said his meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Sunday in France's Biarritz did not produce any results, however, it contributed to the dialogue.

The Iran nuclear accord, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was signed in 2015 between Iran and Russia, China, France, the U.K. and the U.S. plus Germany.

Last year, however, Trump unilaterally withdrew from the deal and intensified pressure on Tehran by re-imposing sanctions targeting the country’s energy and banking sectors.

Under the agreement, the world’s major powers promised to lift economic sanctions imposed on Iran in return for Tehran agreeing to limit its nuclear activity to peaceful and civilian purposes.

In June, Iran sharply criticized world powers for not fulfilling their promises and threatened to abandon parts of the deal.

* Writing by Fatih Hafiz Mehmet in Ankara