U.S. President Donald Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rowhani could meet within weeks, French President Emmanuel Macron said during a joint press conference with Trump.
Macron said that he had spoken by phone to Rowhani, who said that he was willing to meet “any political leaders if it was in his country’s interest”.
The call came after a surprise visit to the summit venue in France by Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif the previous day.
Macron said that he told Rowhani that “if he was willing to meet President Trump, my conviction is that an agreement could be reached… And so I hope that in the coming weeks, on the basis of these discussions, we can have a summit meeting between President Rowhani and President Trump.”
Macron’s announcement comes after months of rising tensions in the Gulf region as Iran reels under the impact of harsh sanctions that Washington imposed after pulling out of an agreement to restrict Iran’s nuclear activities.
European states have been scrambling to save the nuclear agreement but have been unable to counteract the effect of the sanctions. (dpa/NAN)