French President Emmanuel Macron, who also chairs the G7, announced on Monday 26 August, at the end of the summit of leaders of this group of countries, that a summit between US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rohani was possible, hoping that such a meeting could take place in the “coming weeks”.
“If Mr Rohani accepts a meeting with Mr Trump, I am convinced that an agreement can be reached”, Mr Macron explained to the press, alongside Mr Trump. Earlier in the day, the Iranian president said he was ready to meet with any political leader if it was in his country's interest, according to Mr Macron. For his part, Mr Trump agreed to such a meeting, which could involve the leaders of the E3+2 (Germany, France, United Kingdom, China and Russia), believing that they could be useful around the table and help reach an agreement.
In summary, Mr Trump and Mr Rohani are ready for a “useful meeting in the right format and at the right time”, Mr Macron said. According to him, the necessary conditions for the meeting are “a security commitment on one hand and funding on the other”. He also highlighted the possibility of economic compensation for Iran. For his part, Mr Trump said that these could be lines of credit backed by oil.
Without wanting to give too much detail on the elements of a future agreement, the French President recalled that his American counterpart wanted an agreement over a longer period of time – some elements of the Joint Action Plan (JCPOA) end in 2025 – and that more sites could be monitored, “a more ambitious agreement in terms of safety”.
“We fully share two objectives: to ensure that Iran can never acquire nuclear weapons and to promote peace and stability in the region”, recalls the joint statement issued at the end of the G7, the difficulty being how to achieve these objectives.
While the United States is playing the game of maximum pressure to push the Iranians to negotiate a global agreement, the Europeans want to maintain the Iranian nuclear agreement, signed in Vienna in 2015 (see EUROPE 11359/6), which has been in bad shape since it was unilaterally denounced by the United States (see EUROPE 12309/18) and which the Iranians stopped respecting, in July, their commitments governing their nuclear programme (see EUROPE 12288/18); they are discussing in parallel with Iran on its regional role. “The JCPOA is a bad agreement that should never have been concluded”, Mr Trump once again denounced to the press, regretting in particular that it is a short-term agreement.
A few minutes earlier, in front of the press, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had welcomed the progress on the Iranian issue. “This is a big step forward. There is now an atmosphere that allows discussions ”, all this “ in coordination with the United States, and it is already a lot”, she explained.
Message to Iran
The day before, the French President had confirmed to the press that he would send a “message” to Iran. “There is no formal mandate given under the G7, it doesn't exist”, he said, explaining that the G7 is an “informal club”. He went on to say that “we will continue to act on both sides, each in its own role, when I speak, I speak on behalf of France”.
Surprise invitation from the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs
Sunday 25 August was marked by the visit of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to Biarritz. The decision was reportedly taken following the dinner on 24 August and a lengthy discussion between Mr Macron and Mr Trump at an impromptu lunch on the arrival of the American President, which lasted almost 2 hours.
Mr Zarif did not meet with the American President or the American diplomatic corps. When asked about this, Mr Trump felt that it would have been “a little too early for a meeting”. The Iranian Foreign Minister, on the other hand, met with the British and German delegations and, of course, the French delegation, in particular with the French President, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, and the Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire.
Mr Zarif arrived in France on Friday 23 August, where he first met with the French President and later called on his Twitter account to support the preservation of multilateralism, with reference to the Vienna Agreement.
Russian Reintegration and the Role of the G7
The issue of Russia's reintegration into the G7 group was strongly raised at the dinner on 24 August. European countries are more or less in agreement not to invite Russia, particularly because of the annexation of Crimea. However, Italy has some reservations on this point, while Japan and Canada remain rather neutral, we are told. However, Mr Trump argued that addressing the Iranian or Syrian issue without the presence of Russia made no sense.
The American does not have the same definition as his G7 counterparts, explains one source. The latter see the G7 primarily as a “club of democracies”, while the American President considers this group more open, a group to which states would be invited according to international issues.
At the end of the summit, Mr Macron said that, in the absence of a consensus, Russia would not be reintegrated into the G8, but that the host country could invite a country if it so wished, leaving open the possibility of a Russian presence at the next G7 meeting in Miami, United States, in 2020.
To see the declaration: https://bit.ly/2Pasvh9 (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens with Camille-Cerise Gessant)