Emmanuel Macron has used his speech to a joint session of Congress to urge the United States to reject nationalism and preserve the Iran nuclear deal.
The French president received a three-minute standing ovation as he arrived in the chamber in Washington, DC on Wednesday, yet his speech was critical of President Donald Trump’s America First agenda.
He expressed doubt that Trump would stay in the nuclear deal and warned the West not to “repeat past mistakes” in the Middle East.
Saving the Iran deal has been high on the agenda of Macron’s visit, and he has presented Trump with a supplementary pact that would further limit Iran’s development of ballistic missiles and curb its military role in the region.
France, the US as well as Russia, Germany, China, the UK and the European Union are signatories to the agreement with Iran.
“My view – I don’t know what your president will decide – is that he will get rid of this deal on his own, for domestic reasons,” Macron said.
In an address to the US Congress earlier in the day, Macron said while the 2015 nuclear agreement “may not address all concerns”, the parties to the deal “should not abandon it without having something more substantial instead”.
“We signed it at the initiative of the United States. We signed it – both the United States and France. That is why we cannot say we should get rid of it like that.”
Macron added: “What we decided, together with your president, is that we can work on a more comprehensive deal addressing all these concerns.”
While declaring France’s position to stay with the Iran deal, Macron sought to allay the concerns of Trump and his conservative allies, declaring: “Iran shall never possess any nuclear weapon. Not now, not in five years, not in 10 years, never.”