France's Defence Minister Florence Parly on Tuesday warned that challenging the 2015 Iran nuclear deal risks escalating tensions in "very eruptive region" and called for more efforts to improve the agreement.
She told RTL Radio that the agreement had successfully suspended the Iranian nuclear power programme, even if it was "not perfect".
"It's not the best of agreements. (But,) it is a factor of peace and stabilization in a very eruptive region," Parly added.
The Iran deal, also known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is an international agreement reached on July 14, 2015 between Iran and six world countries -- China, France, Russia, Britain, the US and Germany, plus the EU.
Iran, in a pact with the world powers, had agreed to halt its nuclear programme in return for an easing of economic sanctions on Tehran.
However, the US has repeatedly threatened to reimpose sanctions on Iran and decertify the JCPOA. "Any escalation that concerns Iran can only be a factor of aggravation of a situation already very tense," the minister was cited as saying by Xinhua news agency.
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"It will be necessary to constantly continue to plead for the improvement of this agreement, whether the US is there or not," she said.
Reiterating the necessity to maintain the 2015 nuclear deal, French President Emmanuel Macron suggested opening new global talks on a Iran post-2025 nuclear programme that would include its ballistic missile programme and its regional influence.
--IANS
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