Ahead of their visits to the US, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on President Donald Trump to keep Iran nuclear deal in place as the United Nations reiterated its support for the historic agreement.
Macron has said he wants to persuade Trump to protect the 2015 Iran nuclear deal during his visit to Washington.
The French president, who was to visit the White House on Monday to kick off a three-day state visit, made the comments on Sunday in an interview with Fox News, Al Jazeera reported.
He said that it would be better to protect the Iran deal instead of getting rid of it, saying there is no “Plan B” to take its place.
"Is this agreement perfect and this JCPOA a perfect thing for our relationship with Iran? No. But for nuclear—what do you have? As a better option? I don't see it," Macron said.
"Let's preserve this framework [rather] than some sort of North Korean type of situation," he added.
Commenting on Macron’s remark, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted on Monday, “President Macron is correct in saying there's no "Plan B" on JCPOA. It's either all or nothing. European leaders should encourage President Trump not just to stay in the nuclear deal, but more importantly to begin implementing his part of the bargain in good faith.”
Macron is on something of a rescue mission for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Trump has vowed to scrap unless European allies strengthen it by mid-May.
The deal reached between Iran, the United States and five other world powers put curbs on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Trump, who has called the JCPOA the "worst deal in history", has said he will scrap the nuclear deal unless "a better option" is presented to him in May, when a deadline on renewing the deal will pass.
Trump and Macron began their improbable friendship a year ago in Belgium with a jaw-clenching handshake. While other European leaders have kept a certain distance from Trump, Macron has worked hard to remain close to the US president and the two leaders speak frequently by phone.
The cautious Merkel has failed to establish a good personal rapport with the brash Trump, and the mood music of her one-day working visit to the White House is likely to contrast sharply with that of Macron’s three-day state visit.
Imperfect Deal Better Than No Deal
The German chancellor also defended the Iran nuclear deal on Sunday, saying an imperfect deal is better than no deal and that her country will "watch very closely" to ensure it is being fulfilled.
“We believe it's better to have this agreement, even if it is not perfect, than to have no agreement. We will continue to discuss this, but Germany will watch very closely to ensure that this agreement will be fulfilled," she told Israel TV's Channel 10.
International Backing
A nuclear non-proliferation conference in Geneva heard repeated calls for parties to the deal to ensure its implementation and preservation.
“The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action continues to be the best way to ensure the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program and to realize the promised tangible economic benefits for the Iranian people,” UN High representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu said.
EU disarmament envoy Jacek Bylica said the deal strengthened the international non-proliferation regime, contributed to regional and international security and ensured the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.
Russia, China to Obstruct US Attempt
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday he had agreed with his Chinese counterpart that Moscow and Beijing would try to block any US attempt to sabotage the Iran nuclear deal, TASS reported.
“We are against revising these agreements, we consider it very counterproductive to try to reduce to zero years of international work carried out via talks between the six major powers and Iran,” TASS quoted Lavrov as saying after talks with Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, in Beijing.
“We will obstruct attempts to sabotage these agreements which were enshrined in a UN Security Council resolution,” Lavrov was cited as saying.
