French President Macron calls on Trump to honor Iran nuclear deal

Citing North Korea, Macron calls on Trump to honor Iran nuclear deal, By Christiane Amanpour, Chief International Correspondent, and Hilary Clarke, CNN September 19, 2017

Story highlights

French leader says it would be a mistake for the US to withdraw from Iran nuclear deal
“If we talk of a military solution, we speak about a lot of victims,” he says of North Korea

French President Emmanuel Macron firmly rejected any military solution to the North Korean crisis and warned against scrapping the nuclear agreement with Iran, in an exclusive interview Tuesday with CNN.

Macron warned that Iran risked becoming a rogue nuclear state like North Korea without the deal.

“North Korea is a very good illustration of a ‘what if’ regarding Iran,” he told CNN shortly before his maiden speech at the UN General Assembly.

“Why? Because we stopped everything with North Korea years and years ago. We stopped any monitoring, any discussions with them, and what’s the result? They will probably get a nuclear weapon. I don’t want to replicate that situation with Iran.”……

Macron warned against harsh rhetoric. “My point is not to increase pressure by issuing words against words,” he said. “We have to decrease tension and protect people in the region.”

Any military solution to North Korea’s drive to develop ballistic nuclear missiles would result in tragedy: “Look at the map, if we talk of a military solution we speak about a lot of victims. Building peace is what we have to do in this region,” Macron said, speaking in English.

Macron said North Korea was a good example of how not to do things, and compared the example of the East Asian nation with the nuclear agreement with Iran, which Trump has described as “one of the worst” deals the United States has ever made and has threatened to tear up.

Macron said it would be a “big mistake” for the United States to withdraw from the agreement with Iran. “I don’t think this Iran deal, this nuclear deal with Iran, is (the be-all and end-all) of everything to do with Iran. If President Trump considers it is not sufficient, I do agree with that. (But) we have this deal.

“I think that the outcome of this deal is that now we have the monitoring process with international urgency following the situation, and I think it is better than nothing. Why? Because if we stop with this deal … if we just stop with the nuclear agreement, we will enter into a situation very similar to the North Korean situation.”……..

Climate change agreement

Macron also said France will do all it can to convince Trump to reverse his stated decision to pull the United States out of the Paris accord to halt rising global temperatures.

“That’s his choice and I do respect his choice, and he was elected on the basis of such a decision, but I do regret this decision, and I do want to convince him to come back to this agreement because for me that’s the core agreement for climate,” he said…….http://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/19/world/macron-north-korea-iran-amanpour-interview/index.html

September 22, 2017 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, politics international

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