World Jewish News

In his UN speech, French President Macron defends the nuclear deal with Iran

Contrary to US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, French President Emmanuel Macron, in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, defended the nuclear agreement reached between Iran and six world powers, including the U.S., and hailed it as a “solid, robust and verifiable” way to ensure the Islamic Republic does not also arm itself with nuclear weapons.

On July 14, 2015, the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States), the European Union and Iran reached a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program.The nuclear agreement led to the lifting of most international sanctions against Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear program. As an EU country and a permanent member of the UN Security Council, France has been a vocal supporter of the nuclear agreement.

“To denounce it would be a grave error,” he said. “Because it is a good deal, essential to peace at a time where the risk of an infernal spiral cannot be excluded,” Macron said.

Macron warned that Iran risked becoming a rogue nuclear state like North Korea without the deal. "North Korea is a very good illustration of a 'what if' regarding Iran," he said in an interview with CNN before his speech at the UN General Assembly.

"Why? Because we stopped everything with North Korea years and years ago. We stopped any monitoring, any discussions with them, and what's the result? They will probably get a nuclear weapon. I don't want to replicate that situation with Iran."

Macron urged world leaders to join together to confront global challenges, including war, terrorism, immigration and climate change. “Today, more than ever, we need multilateralism,” Macron said in his speech. “Why? Because our challenges are global.”

Macron’s statements on Iran were in sharp contrast to the speech delivered by both President Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Trump said that the world could not let a “murderous regime” continue to destabilise the Middle East while also “building dangerous missiles” and that the US “cannot abide by an agreement if it provides cover for the eventual construction of a nuclear programme”.

The US President reiterated his previous statement that “the Iran deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.” And that the deal “is an embarrassment to the United States”.

Addressing the General Assembly, Netanyahu, who vehemently opposes the deal with Iran, called Tehran’s nuclear ambitions a “dark shadow” and said its rulers “vow to destroy my country.”

Calling yet again for the scrapping of the deal he said it “doesn’t block Iran’s path to the bomb, but actually paves it.”

“Change it, or cancel it. Fix it, or nix it,” the Israeli leader challenged. “Nixing the deal means restoring massive pressure on Iran, including crippling sanctions, until Iran fully dismantles its nuclear weapons capability.”

EJP