French President Emmanuel Macron has called for a new Iran nuclear deal that will build on the current agreement with Tehran, following talks with US President Donald Trump.
Macron, speaking on Tuesday at a White House press conference alongside Trump, said the pair held “frank discussions” on the landmark 2015 pact, which the US president has previously described as “insane”.
The agreement between world powers and Tehran, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), eased sanctions on Iran in return for it agreeing that it would not develop nuclear weapons.
“We wish from now on to work on a new deal with Iran,” Macron, who is on a three-day state visit to the US, said.
“Together, and with the powers of the region and Iranian leaders, we need to find a deal. This is the only way to bring about stability.”
Any new deal must block all Iranian nuclear activity to 2025, prevent Iran from ever developing nuclear weapons, and contain Tehran’s influence in countries throughout the Middle East, including Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, Macron added.
Under the terms of the current agreement, Iran would be able to restart part of its nuclear programme from 2025 onwards as part of a so-called “sunset clause”.
Al Jazeera’s Kimberley Halkett, reporting from Washington, DC, suggested Trump and Macron appeared to have agreed upon a need to expand the initial 2015 agreement.
“In the words of Emmanuel Macron, the 2015 agreement would be one pillar of a new and broader deal that would address security concerns beyond 2025,” Halkett said.
“It would also address the issue that has been of concern for the Trump administration, which they typically refer to as ‘Iran’s destabilising activity’, in other words the influence that Iran has in places such as Lebanon, Yemen and Syria.”
