Macron Seeking Middle Ground Between Iran, US

France is struggling to avoid a situation where it would have to take sides between Iran and the US, the arch foes currently at loggerheads over Iran’s nuclear deal and its missile development, a political analyst said. “France and the EU, especially France, don’t want to be in a position where they have to choose between business with Iran and difficulties in relations with the US. They don’t want to deal with this. So, they are trying to convince Iran to negotiate over the ballistic missiles program so that they could avoid it,” Sina Azodi said in a talk with Sputnik on Sunday.

“What is important for the EU is the range of the ballistic missiles that Iran has,” he added. Iran has flatly rejected US call for Tehran’s nuclear deal with major powers to be revised to include missile and other non-nuclear curbs. French President Emmanuel Macron, like other European leaders, has backed Tehran’s stance to protect huge bilateral business deals, while raising the need for separate talks on curbing Iran’s missile development to appease hawkish US President Donald Trump. Iran considers the development of missile defense capability a legitimate and non-negotiable right to keep at bay the host of threats touted by the US, Israel and other regional adversaries.