President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday they agree on the need to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and hope to renew talks with Tehran.
“I don’t think we have differences over Iran,” Mr. Trump told reporters during a meeting in France. “The president [Mr. Macron] doesn’t want to see Iran have nuclear weapons and neither do it.”
Mr. Macron said “we do share the same objective.”
We had an instrument [agreement] until 2025,” Mr. Macron said, but “we want to go further. So we have to deliver together this sole objective.”
France is still a party to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, from which Mr. Trump withdrew the U.S. The French government said it wants to keep the agreement alive, but warned Tehran last month that sanctions could be triggered if Iran doesn’t keep its commitments.
Accusing Tehran of “championing terrorism” across the Middle East, Mr. Trump said Iran was failing as a nation in the wake of tough U.S. sanctions. But he said he was ready to talk to the Iranians.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to travel to Iran next week as he seeks to mediate between Washington and Tehran.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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