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PARIS, Aug 25 (KUNA) -- French President and G7 host Emmanuel Macron on Sunday confirmed the G7 summit leaders agreed contacts with Iran are to continue and that it was his role to outline this process aimed at a de-escalation of Gulf tensions.
In meetings Sunday morning, that included the thorny Iranian question, the G7 leaders tasked Macron to explain the latest developments, but the French leader denied he was given any "official mandate" from the powerful group, a fact corroborated by President Donald Trump who said there was no spokesman on Iran appointed in Biarritz.
"The G7 is an informal club," and does not have "a formal mandate" to act on the world stage, although it does seek to coordinate policy approaches and actions, Macron explained.
What is important is that "we arrive at an end result," he said in a live broadcast on France 24 TV.
In an apparent softening of France's oppositional position to US sanctions against Iran, Macron said that perhaps President Trump's decision to sanction Iran had encouraged Tehran to discuss other issues that it would not have agreed to talk about before the pressure of sanctions.
Macron has been saying for months that US sanctions and Trump's withdrawal from the 2015 Vienna Accords on the Iranian nuclear sector were counterproductive and could drive Iran to leave the agreement. Any such departure by Iran is felt extremely dangerous by the French as it would remove international monitoring of Iran's nuclear programmes and could also provoke a proliferation of nuclear weapons' programmes in other countries in the region.
But it appears now that Macron will work towards reopening negotiations with Iran and he will seek to include issues beyond the nuclear programmes. These could include Iran's illegal ballistic missile programme which flies in the face of UN Security Council Resolutions, even if it can be argued Iran is not the only country violating UNSC resolutions.
In addition, potential negotiating countries in a new round of talks would want to include what France has called "destabilisation" activities by Iran, such as arming and supporting rebel groups in Yemen and other groups in Lebanon, Gaza and elsewhere. Iran is also heavily involved in the Syrian conflict and has a proxy presence in Iraq.
These elements have caused unease on many fronts.
Allegations of harassment and even attacks on oil tankers by Iranian naval forces in the Arab Gulf outside of Iranian waters have also been raised by the US and need to be clarified.
Macron said he would keep up telephone and other contacts with Iran, with the Iranian government, and "sometimes discreetly" What we want is "stability," he declared, adding that "the situation is fragile."
All of the G7 leaders were adamant that Iran should not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon that a return to stability in the Gulf is urgent.
Macron also referred to his Paris meeting on Friday, the eve of the G7 Summit, with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, but declined to indicate the contents of the talks, which Zarif described as "going in the right direction" and somewhat "positive." (Pick up previous)
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