US President Donald Trump on Thursday criticized his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and accused him of getting in the way of US policy and sending "mixed signals" to Iran.
“Iran is in serious financial trouble. They want desperately to talk to the U.S., but are given mixed signals from all of those purporting to represent us, including President Macron of France,” tweeted Trump.
“I know Emmanuel means well, as do all others, but nobody speaks for the United States but the United States itself. No one is authorized in any way, shape, or form, to represent us!” he added.
While he did not specifically say so, it appeared Trump was responding to a report earlier this week that Macron had invited Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to the G& summit in Biarritz to meet Trump. Rouhani rejected the proposal, according to the report.
France later denied the report.
Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal last May, and later imposed two rounds of sanctions on Iran, the latest of which went into effect in November of 2018.
The European signatories to the 2015 deal – including Britain – did not agree with Trump’s decision to leave the agreement and vowed to help Iran evade the economic sanctions imposed by the US, shielding companies doing business with the rogue state in an effort to preserve the Iran nuclear deal.
Macron has made clear there is no “plan B” for the Iran nuclear deal, even though he has also repeatedly expressed concerns over Iran’s ballistic missile program.