French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday said that France is willing to seek a broader nuclear pact with Iran even if the US withdraws from the deal that Tehran signed with world powers in 2015.
"I don't know what the US President will decide on May 12. Whatever the decision, we will have to prepare a broader negotiation and a broader deal because I think nobody wants a war or an escalation of tensions in the region," Macron said in Sydney on the second day of his official visit to Australia.
He also stressed that the agreement was the best way to monitor the current activity of the Iranian regime.
Macron made the comments during an appearance with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who also supported the pact with Iran and called it the "best option" available.
The French President called the deal with Tehran as "a starting point" and advocated expanding it beyond 2025 while improving control over Iranian regime's ballistic missile activities and containing it within the region.
US President Donald Trump is expected to announce on May 12 whether Washington would opt out of the agreement signed to regulate Iran's nuclear energy programme in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier this week presented documents as proof of an Iranian nuclear weapons plan, which he said were copies of a secret Iranian archive obtained by its intelligence services.
The US called the documents "real" and "authentic", while the EU recalled that the agency in charge of monitoring the Iranian nuclear programme didn't question Tehran's fulfilment of the commitments.
--IANS
and/soni/mr
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
