Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Macron to Iranian Counterpart: Agree to Nuclear Deal


Sun 20 Feb 2022 | 11:37 AM
Ahmad El-Assasy

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi on Saturday and pushed him to commit to a deal to resurrect a 2015 nuclear pact, according to Reuters.

Macron stated his belief that talks had resulted in a settlement that was respectful to all parties' interests in an hour-and-a-half phone call.

According to a statement released by the French president, he stressed that Iran should use the chance to preserve the Vienna agreement and avert a catastrophe.

In response to former US President Donald Trump's exit from the nuclear deal in May 2018, Iran has steadily reduced its adherence to the 2015 agreement it struck with world powers.

It has undertaken many rounds of indirect talks with the Biden administration about resuming the agreement.

Macron and Raisi spoke a day after a top European Union official said a US-Iran deal to resurrect Iran's 2015 nuclear deal was close to completion, but success hinged on the political will of all parties involved.

"I expect an agreement in the coming week, the coming two weeks or so. I think we have now on the table text that are very, very close to what is going to be the final agreement," the official said, according to the Reuters news agency.

On Friday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the Maariv newspaper that Iran and Western nations negotiating in Vienna had established an agreement on the groundwork for a new deal.

According to Le Drian, the US and Iran will announce a new nuclear accord next week, stating that the two parties have already struck an agreement on the tentative pact.

He went on to say that the new deal's details, such as the "choreography" of its signing and which officials will represent the signatories, are still being worked out.