French President Emmanuel Macron (right) has exchanged angry words with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left). AFP
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said Europe would not compromise with the US over Washington’s move to reactivate sanctions on Iran, warning the so-called snapback could undermine the UN Security Council and increase Middle East tensions.
Macron assailed the “maximum pressure” policy of US President Donald Trump, saying it had failed to curb Tehran’s interference in the region or ensure it would not acquire a nuclear weapon.
Macron told the UN General Assembly’s 75th session by video from Paris: “We will not compromise on the activation of a mechanism that the US is not in a position to activate on its own after leaving the agreement.
“This would undermine the unity of the Security Council and the integrity of its decisions, and it would run the risk of further aggravating tensions in the region.”
The Trump administration says it is “snapping back” virtually all UN sanctions on Iran lifted under the nuclear accord with Tehran, negotiated under former President Barack Obama but which Trump abandoned in 2018.
Washington says it can re-impose the sanctions because it is still a “participant” in the accord, a position denounced by Europe as legally untenable.
Trump has insisted that one of the inadequacies of the nuclear deal is the failure to address Iran’s ballistic missile programme or its interventions in other Middle East countries.
In a nod to Washington, Macron said additional frameworks were needed for effectively dealing with the Iranian nuclear programme, adding there needed to be a “capacity to complete” the 2015 accord.
These would ensure that “we will respond to Iran’s ballistic activity, but also its destabilisation in the region”.
Macron insisted that France, along with its European allies Britain and Germany, would keep up its demand for “full implementation” of the Iran nuclear deal.
He added that they would “not accept the violations committed by Iran”, which has ramped up its nuclear activity in response to the US withdrawal.
Macron has also been at loggerheads with Turkey over its hydrocarbon research activities in the eastern Mediterranean, which have increased tensions with its traditional rival Greece.
The French president has exchanged angry words with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, though the tone has moderated in recent days with all sides favouring dialogue.
France is also fuming over Turkey’s military intervention in Libya.
Macron said: “We respect Turkey, we are ready for dialogue with it, but we expect it to respect European sovereignty, international law and provide clarifications on its action in Libya, as in Syria.”
In a clear reference to Erdogan’s tough-talking, he added: “Insults are ineffective. And all these words and all these acts have no place in responsible relations between states.”
