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'Regrettable and Naive': Tehran Catches Macron Changing Iran Rhetoric in Talks With Trump

During talks with the US president, Macron noted that the two states' goals on Iran coincide although a year ago he tried to convince Trump not to leave the Iran nuclear deal.
Sputnik

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani has slammed French President Emmanuel Macron's meeting with US counterpart Donald Trump, accusing him of changing his narrative on Iran and the nuclear deal, Fars News reported. Larijani noted that Macron had a completely different stance on the issue in talks with Tehran.

"The French president's comments in his meeting with Trump were regrettable and naïve. Macron's comments did not match what he has been telling our president [...] in their meetings and on the phone", he said.

The speaker added that apparently Macron adapts his position to that of the person he meets with or talks to. In light of this, Larijani advised the French president to focus on domestic issues, like the Yellow Vest protests, instead of trying to solve international problems.

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During the talks with Trump, Macron mentioned that both the US and France have the same goal of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. He further added that "regional peace" requires new talks on Iran to be held with the aim of limiting its ballistic missile programme and regional influence.

Back in 2018, when the US announced its intent to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, French President Emmanuel Macron was among the European leaders, who tried to dissuade Trump from the move, but failed to do so.

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After the US announced the re-imposition of sanctions on Iran, European nations, along with other signatories vowed to continue adhering to the Iran nuclear deal’s provisions and not stop trading with Iran. For that purpose, the EU has been developing a mechanism to avoid US sanctions to allow them to continue doing business with Tehran, but the Islamic Republic's officials have slammed Brussels for a lack of progress and inefficiency of the mechanism.

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