French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday he told US President Donald Trump not to tear up the Iran nuclear deal, as doing so could lead to a similar standoff as the one with North Korea.
“What I told him was not to tear up the deal,” Macron told French media in a live TV interview on Sunday, Politico reported.
“After that I told him, let’s have a demanding dialogue; let’s continue to conduct checks, but let’s be much more demanding with Iran on its ballistic activity.”
Trump, an implacable foe of the deal, has said he would not certify Iran’s compliance but has stopped short of withdrawing the US from the international accord.
France and the European Union have criticized Trump’s threat to ditch the deal, arguing that the US should not act unilaterally to jeopardize an agreement that was negotiated by multiple powers.
Macron noted that Trump “wants to get tougher with Iran. I told him I thought this was the wrong approach because we have to look where we are now with [North] Korea.”
