New York: France's Foreign Minister recently declared that his country’s main objective at the UN General Assembly meeting is to de-escalate tensions between the United States and Iran and that the meeting between their Presidents was not the top priority, on Sunday. 

France prioritizes objectives for the UN General Assembly

Jean-Yves Le Drian stated that starting the de-escalation path is the main objective and not the meeting between President Trump and President Rouhani. France hopes to defuse tensions between Washington and Tehran with the help of European efforts. However, these efforts have caused Iran reducing its commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, owing to the United States refusing to ease sanctions that have strangled Iran’s economy. 

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After the United States blamed Iran for the attack on Saudi’s oil facilities, tension between both countries rose again. All hopes that at the end of August Trump and Rouhani could meet at the United Nations, appears to have collapsed. Iran, however, has completely denied all the allegations regarding its involvement in the attack from the beginning. It has been reported that Yemen’s Houthi movement, an Iran-aligned group, fighting a Saudi-led alliance in Yemen’s civil war, claimed responsibility for the incident. 

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France negotiates with Iran

Le Drian explained that due to US’s statements on Iran, the parameters for negotiation have been reduced and the margins have shortened, though a gateway for more dialogue would have still been possible then. France offered to finance Iran with a $15 billion credit line that would enable it to eventually sell its oil, and in return, Iran would return to the world nuclear deal and will widen its negotiation on its future nuclear activities, its ballistic missile program, and regional influence. 

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French President Emmanuel Macron is due to meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose countries are part of the world nuclear deal, as well as Trump and Rouhani, on Monday.  Le Drian also added that the situation is dire for the world because of the magnitude of the strikes on Saudi Arabia, even though there was a point when Iran wanted to resolve the issue with talks.

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