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Trump and Macron speak ahead of Iran nuclear deal announcement
Trump and Macron speak ahead of Iran nuclear deal announcement
Trump spoke to his French counterpart Macron on Tuesday, hours before the US president is due to announce whether he will pull out of an Iran nuclear deal.
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Macron and Trump spoke on Tuesday [AFP]
US President Donald Trump called his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, just hours before he makes a landmark speech on the future of an Iran nuclear deal.
Trump is expected to make the announcement on whether the US will pull out of the deal at 2pm local time.
The deal was agreed between Iran and world powers in 2015, to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions in return for sanctions relief.
The US president is expected to announce that Washington will leave the nuclear deal, striking a heavy blow for his European allies who back the agreement.
France said Macron and Trump "discussed matters relating to peace and stability in the Middle East", but did not mention Iran.
France strongly backs the deal, but admits there are flaws.
The UK, Germany, France and a senior EU official met Iran's deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Brussels and "used this opportunity to reiterate their support to the continued full and effective implementation of the (deal) by all sides", the countries said in a statement.
The EU has backed the deal, with a leading German official telling AFP that the three countries were working to avoid an "uncontrolled escalation", if the US withdraws from the pact.
"For weeks we have been in close contact with E3 partners [Germany, France and the UK] in particular - from the working level to the foreign ministers," the German source said. A senior British diplomat told The Daily Telegraph the UK was "deeply pessimistic" about Trump's announcement.
"Our objective will remain to uphold and maintain the JCPOA [nuclear deal]. We will need to wait to understand what the US plan is to deliver on our shared goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and addressing their regional behaviour."
France, the UK and Germany said they will work to minimise the damage of a US withdrawal from the pact.
Agencies contributed to this story.
Trump is expected to make the announcement on whether the US will pull out of the deal at 2pm local time.
The deal was agreed between Iran and world powers in 2015, to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions in return for sanctions relief.
The US president is expected to announce that Washington will leave the nuclear deal, striking a heavy blow for his European allies who back the agreement.
France said Macron and Trump "discussed matters relating to peace and stability in the Middle East", but did not mention Iran.
France strongly backs the deal, but admits there are flaws.
The UK, Germany, France and a senior EU official met Iran's deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Brussels and "used this opportunity to reiterate their support to the continued full and effective implementation of the (deal) by all sides", the countries said in a statement.
The EU has backed the deal, with a leading German official telling AFP that the three countries were working to avoid an "uncontrolled escalation", if the US withdraws from the pact.
"For weeks we have been in close contact with E3 partners [Germany, France and the UK] in particular - from the working level to the foreign ministers," the German source said. A senior British diplomat told The Daily Telegraph the UK was "deeply pessimistic" about Trump's announcement.
"Our objective will remain to uphold and maintain the JCPOA [nuclear deal]. We will need to wait to understand what the US plan is to deliver on our shared goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and addressing their regional behaviour."
France, the UK and Germany said they will work to minimise the damage of a US withdrawal from the pact.
Agencies contributed to this story.
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