Macron says nuclear deal no longer sufficient safeguard against Iran

Speaking on sidelines of UN, French president says accord needed but Tehran’s growing influence in Mideast should be curbed

By AFP 21 September 2017, 3:52 am

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From left to right, front row: Malawi's President Arthur Peter Mutharika, French President Emmanuel Macron and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres attend the 72nd Session of the United Nations General assembly at the UN headquarters in New York on September 20, 2017. AFP/ ludovic MARIN)

France’s President Emmanuel Macron declared Wednesday that the Iran nuclear deal is no longer a sufficient safeguard against the growing power that Tehran wields in its region.

“We need the 2015 accord,” he said of the agreement. “Is this accord enough? It is not, given the growing pressure that Iran is applying in the region.”

Macron was speaking in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, while ministers from Iran the six world powers that signed the accord met to discuss it.

US President Donald Trump, who was elected after the deal was signed, has threatened to pull out if Iran does not face greater controls on its missile and nuclear programs.

The other deal signatories, including France, insist it remains the best way to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear bomb — but Macron has said it could be improved.

He told reporters that Iran’s ballistic missile program must be curtailed and cited the need to reassure “states in the region, and the United States.”