French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday said there is no “plan B” for the Iran nuclear deal and urged U.S. President Donald Trump to stay in the agreement as long as there is no better option, Reuters reported.
Trump, who has blasted the 2015 nuclear deal as “the worst deal ever negotiated”, in January decided to extend a waiver on nuclear sanctions that were imposed on Iran.
However, he made clear it was the last time he would extend the waiver and has given the European signatories a May 12 deadline to “fix the terrible flaws” of the deal.
“I don’t have any plan B,” Macron was quoted as having said in an interview with Fox News, ahead of his upcoming trip to Washington. “Let’s present this framework because it’s better than the sort of North Korean-type situation.”
Macron, who said he and Trump have “a very special relationship,” said he wanted to complete the Iran deal by addressing ballistic missiles and working to contain Iran’s influence in the region.
European countries have expressed their support for the Iran deal even as Trump has criticized it. France, in particular, has been vocal in its support for the 2015 agreement, saying there is no alternative to it.
While supporting the nuclear deal, Macron has also repeatedly expressed concerns over Iran’s ballistic missile program and has suggested that Iran could be sanctioned over it.
Seeking to respond to Trump’s criticism of the nuclear accord and Tehran more broadly, France, Britain and Germany proposed directing sanctions at Iranian “militias and commanders” fighting on behalf of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.
They hoped holding Iran accountable for this could help convince Trump not to walk away from the nuclear agreement. However, they ran into opposition by Italy, backed by Austria.