MOSCOW (Sputnik) – French President Emmanuel Macron and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani spent more than an hour in telephone talks on Sunday and agreed to work together on preserving Iran’s nuclear deal, the French presidential office said in a statement.
“The French president and the Iranian president have agreed to work mainly in the next few weeks on the preservation of the content of the 2015 deal, with all of its elements,” the statement read.
Macron has expressed his wish to preserve the existing nuclear agreement and to launch discussions on additional aspects, such as control of nuclear activities after 2025, Iran’s missile program and main regional crises.
The statement contradicts the previous stance of French President Emmanuel Macron, expressed after his visit to the US, saying that he wanted to preserve the deal, but adding several new provisions to it.
During the phone call, Rouhani, in his turn, reiterated Tehran’s position on any possible amendments in the document.
“The nuclear deal or any other subject under its pretext is not negotiable in any way,” Rouhani stated, according to the website of the Iranian presidency.
The two leaders also agreed to cooperate on the situation in Syria and Yemen.
US President Donald Trump has been expressing his discontent with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the diplomatic victory of his predecessor, ever since his presidential campaign. He has recently intensified his rhetoric, requesting to “fix” it and threatening to pull out of it otherwise.
READ MORE: Macron: Trump Will Exit Iran Nuclear Deal in May
European countries, which signed the agreement (namely, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany) have repeatedly stressed their commitment to the deal. The Russian Foreign Ministry has announced that it will adhere to the JCPOA provisions as long as other participants do.
The ex-US President Barack Obama’s diplomatic triumph, the JCPOA, was signed on July 14,2015, ensuring the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program. Under this agreement, Tehran pledged to not seek to develop or acquire nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of sanctions imposed against Iran.
