France's Macron does not know what Trump will decide on Iran deal

Macron urged Trump to continue with the deal when the two met in Washington last week, but the White House has sounded unconvinced.

By REUTERS
French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a joint meeting of the US Congress in Washington, DC (photo credit: JONATHAN ERNST / REUTERS)
French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a joint meeting of the US Congress in Washington, DC
(photo credit: JONATHAN ERNST / REUTERS)
SYDNEY - French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday said he did not know whether US President Trump would stick with a 2015 nuclear deal that many in the West see as the best hope of preventing Iran from getting a nuclear bomb.
"I don't know what the US president will decide on the 12th May," Macron told reporters in Sydney after meeting Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Macron urged Trump to continue with the deal when the two met in Washington last week, but the White House has sounded unconvinced.
On Tuesday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the agreement on limiting Iran's development of nuclear weapons was reached under false pretenses because the country's nuclear program was more advanced than it indicated at the time.
Macron said he had pushed the idea of a much broader Iran agreement with Trump, which was received "very positively."
"I just want to say whatever the decision will be, we will have to prepare such a broader negotiation and a broader deal because I think nobody wants a war in the region, and nobody wants an escalation in terms of tension in the region," Macron added.
Macron also condemned rioting by anarchists at Tuesday's annual May Day rally in Paris. Police arrested more than 200 people in the French capital after anarchists hijacked the rally by labor unions against Macron's economic reforms.