How do you expect to sign a deal with North Korea if you renege on a done deal with Iran?

It’s the question Iran-deal supporters keep tossing at President Trump as May 12 approaches. That’s the administration’s next opportunity to do away with the Iran deal. Meanwhile, the White House is making headway on a planned summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.

Panicked European officials and American commentators have been pressing Trump to preserve the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, arguing that doing anything else won’t just kill that deal, but kill the possibility for making other such deals.

At the White House on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron warned of tearing up the nuke deal with no Plan B. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be even more forceful defending the deal Friday, when she comes to Washington.

In Tehran, President Hassan Rouhani threatened “dire consequences” if America leaves or changes the deal. In New York, his ever-smiling foreign minister, Javad Zarif, told the AP Tuesday that if Trump backs out of the Iran deal, North Korea should know he’s “not a trustworthy, reliable negotiating partner.”

Wendy Sherman, an Obama-era State Department official who worked on diplomacy with both countries, concurs: Do Trump officials “really want a crisis at the point that they’re trying to get the North Korea negotiation under way?” she told Bloomberg News. “Do they want to deliver a message that America is not a reliable partner?”

The fact that this argument is popular doesn’t make it any less nonsensical.

If Iran is like North Korea, then Trump’s right. The deal is “insane, it’s ridiculous, it should have never been made,” he said Tuesday. That’s because Pyongyang fabricated a silly excuse to kick out international inspectors for good during the Bush administration. If we thought Iran and North Korea were the same, we wouldn’t trust Iran’s compliance with the JCPOA at all.

But the two aren’t the same at all.

Pyongyang’s “Juche” philosophy has to do with an imagined self-reliance. The Kims always believed the secret to holding power is isolation from the world. Iran, on the other hand, touts international commerce as a way to keep the clerics in power.

What’s good for the ayatollah isn’t good for the Juche Man.

Iran’s threat to race to get nuclear weapons if we even tweak the JCPOA is a bluff. It’ll do anything to lure European companies, which the US so far managed to mostly keep from investing in Iran. Publicly seeking nukes would set that quest back.

In fact, the JCPOA is so advantageous to Iran, it’ll beg Europe to stay in even if the US bolts.

But North Korea only has China — international commerce isn’t even on the table. Under Trump’s pressure (and because Pyongyang drives Beijing crazy sometimes), President Xi Jinping partially shut down some of the trade between the two that sustains the Kim regime. Xi will decide whether to reopen it or keep up pressure based on China’s interests.

Trump should do the same for America’s interests.

Why in the world would Trump negotiate with Kim anything resembling the JCPOA he so detests? Sure, a vain man who sells himself as deal artist would love to earn the moniker “peacemaker,” so Trump could fall into Barack Obama’s vanity trap of trusting a flimsy pact to change history.

Yet, surrounded by hawks, that’s unlikely with Trump. Can you imagine John Bolton or Mike Pompeo steering him toward signing the kind of deal Obama’s top aides went gaga over? They’re unlikely to view the Iran deal as a model for anything but failure.

In fact, contrary to received wisdom, nixing, or at least fixing, the Iran deal on the eve of the Kim summit can actually help. It’ll show Pyongyang that as long as it keeps its missiles, permits only partial inspections and expects to resume its pursuit of nukes after a decade (as is the case with the Iran deal), America will walk away from the table.

If they want a deal, North Koreans simply need to “get rid of their nukes,” Trump said Tuesday. The odds on that are still slim, but they’ll improve if the unreasonable parts of the Iran deal are fixed.

America should also expose covert Tehran-Pyongyang efforts to develop illicit ballistic missiles. Such a move would help convince allies that ending the menace posed by these two regimes will require more than bad deals.

 

 Twitter @bennyavni</s>CLOSE President Donald Trump says North Korea wants to hold a high-stakes meeting "as soon as possible" and he is praising Kim Jong Un as "very open" and "very honorable." (April 24) AP

President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron stand together at the beginning of the state arrival ceremony at the White House Tuesday, April 24, 2018. (Photo: Carolyn Kaster, AP)

WASHINGTON — President Trump vowed Tuesday to look for common ground with his French counterpart in dealing with Iran but made no commitment to stick with the nuclear agreement he described as "insane" and "ridiculous."

Receiving French President Emmanuel Macron for a state visit at the White House, Trump repeated his criticism of the agreement to freeze Iran's nuclear program, saying it doesn't address Tehran's missile program or its attempts to foment unrest in the region.

And Trump issued an explicit warning to Iran as the world waits to see whether his administration pulls out of the agreement next month.

“If they restart their nuclear program, they will have bigger problems than they have ever had before,” Trump said during a meeting with Macron in the Oval Office. "You can mark it down."

Still, he said, the U.S. and France were "beginning to understand each other" on the need to contain Iran.

Macron and other European leaders have encouraged Trump to remain in the agreement. Macron told reporters Tuesday he wants to work on a "new deal" with Iran that would build on the current agreement but also address Trump's concerns.

Macron described discussions at the White House as "very frank."

"It’s not a mystery we did not have the same starting positions or stances, and neither you nor I have a habit of changing our stances or going with the wind," Macron told Trump during a press conference in the East Room.

The two leaders also said that containing Iran was the key to lasting peace in Syria. Trump has previously said he wants to bring U.S. troops home from Syria quickly but Macron has urged a longer timeline. The president on Tuesday reiterated his desire for a speedy withdrawal but also injected nuance into his answer.

"As far as Syria is concerned, I would love to get out. I would love to bring our brave warriors back home," Trump said. "Emmanuel and myself have discussed that we don’t want to give Iran open season to the Mediterranean (Sea)."

Trump said he wanted to bring troops home "relatively soon" but said "we want to leave a strong and lasting footprint."

Throughout a heavily scripted series of meetings and ceremonial encounters, Trump and Macron showed off their close relationship through words and body language. Trump held Macron's hands, showered him with compliments and even brushed what he said was a piece of dandruff off of Macron's suit.

"I like him a lot," Trump said sheepishly after getting a kiss on the cheek from Macron.

But even as they touted what Trump called "a very special relationship," Macron repeatedly hinted at the issues dividing the two countries: the Iran nuclear deal, the environment and trade.

"It is together that we will be able to act effectively for our planet," Macron said in remarks at an opening ceremony. "I'm not just referring to climate, but also to the oceans, to biodiversity, and to all forms of pollutions. On this issue, we do not always agree as to the solutions, but in the end, such is the case in any family and in any friendship."

Macron's welcoming remarks were notably more specific than Trump's, which focused on the long 241-year friendship between the two countries — and his personal friendship with Macron, who has emerged as Trump's most trusted European ally over the past year.

More: President Trump after picking something off Macron's suit: 'We have to make him perfect'

"The wonderful friendship we have developed over the past year is a testimony to the historic friendship between our two nations," Trump said.

Trump and Macron met amid the protocol-laden pomp of a formal state visit, the first of Trump's presidency. Following Trump's visit to Paris for Bastille Day ceremonies last year, it's the second one-on-one summit between the two leaders, not counting four other meetings at other summits.

Despite the close relationship the two leaders have cultivated, Macron's visit underscored deep policy differences between Paris and Washington. Chief among those is the Iran nuclear agreement, which Trump has referred to as "the worst deal ever negotiated."

Trump made upending the Iran deal, which was negotiated by President Obama, a centerpiece of his presidential campaign. He did little to soften that position Tuesday.

"It's insane. It's ridiculous. It should have never been made," Trump said of the deal in the Oval Office as Macron sat at his side.

"But we will be talking about it."

Trump must decide next month whether to restore economic sanctions on Iran, effectively withdrawing from the multi-nation deal. The issue certain to come up again when German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits the White House later this week.

After meeting with Macron, Trump said the two had more substantive talks on Iran than any other issue.

Macron said he wants to pursue a new deal with Iran that would build on the existing agreement while also limiting Tehran's ballistic missile program and its influence in the Middle East.

Trump appeared to be skeptical of such an agreement.

"We'll see," he said, "whether or not it will be possible to do a new deal with solid foundations."

Trade also featured prominently on Macron's agenda. The French president has openly criticized Trump's protectionist moves in recent weeks and wants Washington to exempt European nations from U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs aimed mainly at China.

In an interview with Fox News Sunday, Macron warned Trump not to levy tariffs on European steel and aluminum. "You cannot make a trade war with your ally,” he said.

"When you look at the trade issue between our two countries, they are balanced," Macron said as he stood next to Trump at the White House. "There is no unbalanced relationship."

Macron began the three-day visit Monday with a less formal dinner at President George Washington's estate at Mount Vernon. The two will speak at a state dinner later Tuesday, followed by Macron's speech to a joint session of Congress Wednesday.

Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2HVCiAF</s></s>No, the embarrassment stems from the French leader being such a pathetic poodle to the White House bully.

The "dandruff moment" was perhaps the most revealing. At one point in the Oval Office, the American president interrupted himself mid-sentence to lean over to his French counterpart and he began grooming his collar, saying he was removing "dandruff". Macron seemed unfazed and continued smiling.

READ MORE: 'Making France Great Again': Reasons Behind Trump-Macron 'Bromance'

It was what Trump said next that was revealing. "We want him to be perfect… He is perfect."

During the three-day state visit, Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron gave the appearance of best buddies, of being equals. That's certainly what the French leader was striving to achieve. To be seen as the top European ally of America, and the European politician who best understands Trump, best manages the maverick American.

In that way, Macron aims to make "France great again"; for it to be seen as a re-energized world power on an equal footing with the US. Since Macron was elected president last May, his stated goal has been to restore France as a great power.

That seemed to be working to plan this week. Macron is the first international leader to be hosted by Trump in an official state visit. The British "special relationship" with Washington has been eclipsed; and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel who follows Macron's visit on Friday is being only afforded a low-key, one-day working meeting in the White House.

READ MORE: Macron to Leverage ‘Strange Friendship’ with Trump to Protect Iran Deal

But the optics of bonhomie and "bromance" aside, Macron's pretensions of standing alongside Trump as the "leaders of world freedom" are overblown.

The proof of that came when Macron caved-in to Trump's antagonism over the Iranian nuclear deal. Saving that deal by keeping Trump onboard was supposed to be Macron's main mission in Washington DC.

Macron was billed as the European leader who would persuade Trump to stick with the nuclear agreement. But this week, despite all the glad-handing with "my friend Emmanuel", Trump maintains an aggressive disdain for the Iran deal, hinting that he is ready to scrap it next month.

And what was Macron's response? He said that France was now working with the US to "renegotiate a new deal" with Iran.

So much for Macron standing up to Trump.

Iran says that there will be no renegotiation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as it is formally known. The JCPOA was ratified by the UN Security Council after Iran and the six world powers signed it as a done deal in July 2015.

Russia and China have also said there can be no backtracking on the accord. The Europeans were also stating this — at least up to this week before Macron's embarrassing U-turn. It will be very interesting to see what Merkel has to say on the matter when she arrives in Washington later this week.

READ MORE: Trump Meets Macron as Washington Plans to Rip Up Iran Nuclear Arms Deal

What the encounter between Trump and Macron shows this week is that the French president is nothing more than a lapdog. He may have been regaled with pomp and ceremony, and with florid rhetoric about representing "America's oldest ally". But in practice, all the show of two strong leaders standing side-by-side is corny public imaging.

However, that's what makes Macron a particularly dangerous accessory to Trump. The French politician is evidently willing to bend over backwards to pander to Washington's demands.

In the days before the US, Britain and France carried out their illegal missile barrage against Syria on April 14, it was Macron to whom Trump turned to for advice on what action to take.

Macron reportedly briefed Trump on "French intelligence" about the alleged chemical-weapons atrocity on April 7 in Douma, near Damascus. Macron also reportedly cajoled Trump to order the military strikes a week later.

It has become clear now that the chemical-weapons incident on April 7 was a false-flag provocation staged by Western-backed militants.

READ MORE: OPCW Finds No Chemical Weapons at Syrian Facilities Bombed by US — Russian MoD

In other words, French "intelligence" was either faulty, or more likely a fabrication. But the upshot was that the US, Britain and France committed a grave war crime by attacking Syria.

Macron, like his American "daddy", is taking it upon himself to unilaterally rip up an international treaty with Iran that other world powers and the UN have already finalized.

In order to justify this outrageous bad-faith and backsliding, Macron is giving credence to Trump's calumny about Iran being a sponsor of terrorism, destabilizing the region, and illegally developing ballistic missiles. Macron is saying that a "new deal" with Iran will have to be made which will curb Iranian presence in Syria, allegedly in Yemen and the Middle East.

The "Trump whisperer" is not an independent, principled European leader. He is a self-aggrandizing careerist who is willing to play to Trump's worst instincts and ignorance. Even if that means inciting more war in Syria and the Middle East.

The views of the contributor do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.</s>Behind the pomp and circumstance of French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Washington starting Monday — including President Trump’s first state dinner for a fellow world leader since taking office — lies a calculated and hard-nosed campaign to position Paris as the White House’s best friend in Europe.

Much is riding on the visit by Mr. Macron, the banker and political neophyte who captured the French presidency last year, topped by the fate of the Iran nuclear deal that Mr. Trump is poised to kill next month and that Mr. Macron desperately hopes to save.

The three-day visit will be a high-profile test of Mr. Macron’s studied charm offensive with the unpredictable American president, weighing whether the young leader can parlay his personal rapport with Mr. Trump into White House moderation on issues such as the Iran deal and Washington’s new skepticism over such internationalist causes as climate change and free trade.

With German Chancellor Angela Merkel coming to Washington at the end of the week, European leaders will get their last best chance to persuade Mr. Trump to change his mind, or at least hold his fire as EU capitals try to devise new penalties for Tehran that could keep Washington in the deal.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, on a visit to New York, increased the pressure on Mr. Macron Sunday by saying Washington’s withdrawal from the pact would only further diminish the U.S. standing among its allies and adversaries alike.

Iran is ready to restart its nuclear program if the Trump administration leaves the 2015 nuclear agreement and reinstates sanctions, Mr. Zarif said.

“We have put a number of options for ourselves, and those options are ready, including options that would involve resuming at a much greater speed our nuclear activities,” he added.

Mr. Macron has unexpectedly emerged as one of the more moderate and accepting voices within the European Union concerning some of Mr. Trump’s unorthodox foreign policy stances.

The 40-year-old French president has repeatedly defended Mr. Trump’s credibility on the world stage from criticism on several fronts, including his immigration ban from several Muslim countries, claims that Washington is abandoning its role as defender of the postwar liberal order, and views that he is creating a vacuum that China and Russia are filling.

Other Western European leaders have struggled to get a read on Mr. Trump or even establish a personal working rapport, but the young English-speaking Mr. Macron has proved more deft.

“I am not going to judge what should be your president, or to consider that because of these controversies or because of these investigations your president is less credible,” Mr. Macron told The Associated Press, dismissing any attempt to be drawn into the fierce U.S. controversy over Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

But Mr. Macron will be under intense scrutiny back home to prove that his personal bonhomie with Mr. Trump translates into policy successes, starting with the May 12 deadline under which Mr. Trump must decide whether to stay in the multilateral Iran nuclear deal.

Although the visit will undoubtedly include all the trappings of a high-level diplomatic visit between two longtime allies, political observers in the U.S. and Europe will be keeping a keen eye on how the leaders interact over several issues on which they have found themselves at odds.

The two leaders are certain to discuss the impacts of Mr. Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, which France has championed but the Trump administration argues unnecessarily regulates American industries and international companies. Mr. Macron is also a champion of free trade, while Mr. Trump has questioned the North American Free Trade Agreement, killed an Asian trade deal and put in deep freeze a proposed free trade accord with the European Union.

But no topic will likely loom as large between the two leaders as Washington’s reported desire to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that the Obama administration strongly supported.

Mr. Trump and his national security team, led by newly installed National Security Adviser John R. Bolton, have repeatedly called for the dissolution of the nuclear deal despite the continuing support of other world powers, including Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.

If Mr. Trump effectively withdraws from the deal, the U.S. will reimpose sanctions that Iran says negate the main purpose of the accord.

Proponents of the pact, including Mr. Macron and Ms. Merkel, say there is no tangible proof that Tehran has failed to comply with the nonproliferation elements of the Iran deal, even if Iran continues to test other military systems and remains a destabilizing force for American allies across the Middle East.

More pointedly, Mr. Macron is expected to argue that the U.S. and its Western allies will have no good option to restrain Iran’s nuclear programs if Mr. Trump takes Washington out of the deal.

French officials warn there is “no plan B” if the Iran deal collapses. Mr. Macron himself asked on Fox News, “What do you have as an alternative?”

Iran’s Mr. Zarif said Sunday that the Bolton appointment showed Mr. Trump would rather overthrow the government in Tehran that negotiate with it.

The U.S. “never abandoned the idea of regime change in Iran,” he said, adding that some are just “more explicit about stating it.”

France, Germany, the United Kingdom and other key European allies say the deal is the best chance the West has to keep Iran from becoming a nuclear power, potentially threatening the U.S. and Israel with an atomic attack. A furious negotiation is underway to see if the Europeans can formulate a new set of sanctions and penalties for Tehran outside of the nuclear deal to persuade Washington to stay in it.

Mr. Macron, who treated Mr. Trump to an envy-inducing military parade and a dinner in the Eiffel Tower during his trip to Paris last year, has shown a talent for gestures that impress the billionaire former real estate developer.

The French president plans to present Mr. Trump with an oak tree sapling from the site of one of the first World War I battles involving American troops, the Battle of Belleau Wood, The Associated Press reported Sunday.

It’s a sign of appreciation for the sacrifices America has made for France — and a subtle nod to Mr. Macron’s environmental agenda.

He wants it planted in the White House gardens.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.</s>Donald Trump praised the strength of his country's friendship with France as he welcomed French president to Washington in the first state visit of a foreign leader to the US of the Trump presidency.

And in a show of the "very special relationship" between the countries, Donald Trump wiped away what he said was a "little piece of dandruff" from Emmanuel Macron's shoulder in front of the press in the White House.

"We have to make him perfect, he is perfect," the US president told reporters.

Earlier he thanked the French leader for his "steadfast partnership" during the recent missile strike in response to the chemical attack in Syria.

Macron told Mr Trump that together the US and France would defeat terrorism, curtail weapons of mass destruction in North Korea and Iran and act together on behalf of the planet, a reference to Macron's work to revive a US role in the Paris climate accord.

"History is calling us. It is urging our people to find the fortitude that has guided us in the most difficult of times," Macron said. "France and with it, Europe, and the United States have an appointment with history."</s>French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes US President Donald Trump prior to a meeting at the Elysee Presidential Palace on July 13, 2017 in Paris, France. Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes France's Emmanuel Macron to the White House on Monday at the start of a three-day state visit expected to be dominated by U.S.-European differences on the Iran nuclear deal and souring trade relations.

It will be Trump's first hosting of a state visit since he took power in January 2017. The pair will get a sense of their two countries' shared history during an evening meal on Monday night at Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington, the first U.S. president and Revolutionary War commander whose alliance with France was critical to victory over the British.

The major work between them is scheduled for Tuesday during White House meetings, before Macron addresses Congress on Wednesday, the anniversary of the day that French General Charles de Gaulle addressed a Joint Session of Congress in 1960.

Trump and the 40-year-old French leader began their improbable friendship a year ago in Belgium with a jaw-clenching handshake. While other European leaders have kept a certain distance from Trump, Macron has worked hard to remain close to the U.S. president and the two leaders speak frequently by phone.

Macron is on something of a rescue mission for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Trump has vowed to scrap unless European allies strengthen it by mid-May.

The deal reached between Iran, the United States and five other world powers put curbs on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Macron said on Fox News Sunday that it would be better to protect the Iran deal instead of get rid of it, saying there is no "Plan B" to take its place.

"Is this agreement perfect and this JCPOA a perfect thing for our relationship with Iran? No. But for nuclear -- what do you have? As a better option? I don't see it," he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Donald Trump react in the courtyard after a joint news conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, July 13, 2017. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

Macron also wants to persuade Trump to exempt European nations from steel tariffs that are part of the U.S. president's plan to reduce chronic trade deficits with countries around the world, chiefly China.

His visit comes at a time of mounting alarm in Europe over the knock-on effect that U.S. sanctions on Russia will have on their own manufacturing industries.

An official in the French presidency said Paris and other European capitals were coordinating efforts to persuade Trump to ease sanctions on Russia, including measures against Russian aluminum producers.

"We're working on that with our European partners," the source said.

The two leaders are also expected to discuss Syria, less than two weeks after the United States, France and Britain launched airstrikes in Syria in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack that killed dozens in Douma, Syria.

Macron said last week that he believed he had persuaded Trump to keep U.S. troops in Syria, but Trump has been insistent on bringing them home, although he has not publicly provided a definite timetable.

Whether substantive progress will be made on these and other issues was unclear.

"Whether we will actually solve, or come to closure, or a full detailed agreement on some of the issues that we've touched on is difficult to say at this remove," a senior administration official told reporters on Friday.</s>related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.

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The top U.N. disarmament official urged parties to the Iran nuclear deal on Monday not to abandon it, just weeks before U.S. President Donald Trump's May 12 deadline for his European allies to agree to toughen up the terms of the agreement.

GENEVA/MOSCOW: U.S. allies and rivals spoke out in support of the Iran nuclear deal on Monday, bolstering French President Emmanuel Macron's pitch to U.S. President Donald Trump that there was no "Plan B" for keeping a lid on Tehran's atomic ambitions.

Macron is on something of a rescue mission for the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Trump has vowed to scrap unless European allies strengthen it by mid-May.

A nuclear non-proliferation conference in Geneva heard repeated calls for parties to the deal - the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany - to ensure its implementation and preservation.

"The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action continues to be the best way to ensure the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme and to realise the promised tangible economic benefits for the Iranian people," U.N. High representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu said.

But U.S. non-proliferation envoy Christopher Ford said Iran presented a very real long-term challenge to the non-proliferation regime.

"Iran (is) a country that for years illegally and secretly sought to develop nuclear weapons, suspended its weaponisation work only when confronted by the potentially direst of consequences without ever coming clean about its illicit endeavours," he said.

"For several more years (it) continued its efforts to enrich uranium in violation of legally-binding U.N. Security Council requirements, and retains the ability to position itself, several years hence, dangerously close to rapid weaponisation."

On a visit to Beijing, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he had agreed with his Chinese counterpart to block any U.S. attempt to sabotage the deal.

"We are against revising these agreements, we consider it very counter productive to try to reduce to zero years of international work carried out via talks between the six major powers and Iran," Lavrov said after talks with the Chinese government’s top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi.

"We will obstruct attempts to sabotage these agreements which were enshrined in a U.N. Security Council resolution," Lavrov said.

EU disarmament envoy Jacek Bylica said the deal strengthened the international non-proliferation regime, contributed to regional and international security and ensured the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme.

Cornel Seruta, a senior official at the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the deal had significantly improved access to Iran.

"In short, Iran is now subject to the most robust nuclear verification regime and Iran is implementing its nuclear related commitments under the JCPOA," he said. "It is essential that Iran continues to fully implement those commitments."</s>French President Emmanuel Macron offered support Tuesday for President Donald Trump’s view that a new Iranian nuclear agreement is necessary.

France is among the seven signatories to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in addition to the United States, Great Britain, Germany, China and Russia — a deal signed before either Trump or Macron took office.

In exchange for relief from economic sanctions, Iran agreed to significantly curtail its nuclear program over a 10-year period.

During a joint news conference Tuesday at the White House, Macron acknowledged that he and Trump had differing views regarding the efficacy of the agreement, with the French president arguing the U.S. should remain a party.

“It’s not a mystery, we did not have the same starting positions,” Macron said. “I can say that we’ve had very frank discussion on that, just the two of us. You consider that the Iranian deal, the JCPOA, the one negotiated in 2015 with Iran is a bad deal.

“For a number of months I’ve been saying that this was not a sufficient deal but that it enabled us at least until 2025 to have some control over their nuclear activities. We, therefore, wish to work on a new deal with Iran.”

The French president identified multiple topics that need to be addressed in that regard.

They include blocking any nuclear development from Iran until 2025, for which the JCPOA laid the groundwork, but the French president believes there is a need to go beyond the terms of the agreement to find a longer term solution.

Another vital issue, according to Macron, would be to put an end to Iran’s ballistic missile testing. A final objective would be to thwart Iran’s efforts to destabilize the region through its intervention in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.

Macron emphasized he believes a new agreement can be had, which includes not just the JCPOA nations, but countries in the Middle East, as well.

Earlier in the day, Trump described the Iran deal as “insane” and “ridiculous.”

RELATED: Iran Threatens ‘Very Unpleasant’ Action if Trump Pulls Out of Iran Deal

“We’re going to be talking about it,” the president said in the Oval Office. “We will see. People know my views. It was a terrible deal. It shouldn’t have been made. We could have made a good deal or reasonable deal. The Iran deal is a terrible deal.”

Trump faces a May 12 deadline to decide whether he will re-certify that Iran is in compliance with the agreement.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned the United States would face “grave” consequences if the United States withdraws from the JCPOA.

“If someone wants to betray our nation and the deal, grave consequences will affect them,” Rouhani said during a speech broadcast on State TV.

During Tuesday’s joint news conference with Macron, Trump said, “There is a chance, and nobody knows what’s I’m going to do on the 12th, although Mr. President (Macron), you have a pretty good idea, but we’ll see.”

“But we’ll see also if I do what some people expect, whether or not it will be possible to do a new deal with solid foundations, because this is a deal with decayed foundations,’ he added.

What do you think? Scroll down to comment below.</s>PARIS (AP) — Of everything Emmanuel Macron has accomplished in nearly a year as France's president, the most important may be his tough-love friendship with Donald Trump.

From their first bone-squeezing handshake to Macron's recent claim that he persuaded Trump to bomb Syria, it's been an improbable relationship. And it will be on pomp-filled display starting Monday as Macron goes on a state visit to Washington, the first by any leader since Trump took office.

Macron calls Trump all the time. With other world leaders too wary or weak to woo the impulsive U.S. president, Macron calculates that it's smarter and safer to talk to Trump than isolate him.

The 40-year-old moderate progressive, who had never held elected office before he won France's presidential election, defended his overtures to the 71-year-old conservative Trump in an interview on the broadcast "Fox News Sunday."

"I am not going to judge ... what should be your president, or to consider that because of these controversies or because of these investigations, your president is less credible," he said.

The French president has the most to gain from the three-day state visit. He wants to fortify his image as the face of today's Europe and the No. 1 defender of a liberal world order, as well as prove that France is essential to solving world problems such as Iran's nuclear ambitions and international trade wars.

His aims may sound like French hubris or wishful thinking, but they are consistent with the "France is back" global strategy Macron has set for his tenure.

He talks regularly to Russian President Vladimir Putin and other controversial leaders, too. He also has tried his own diplomatic maneuvering in the Middle East with the goals of defending French interests and making sure Europe has a say in the region's future.

For all their camaraderie, Macron and Trump disagree on some fundamental issues.

Take global warming. Macron mocked Trump's campaign slogan by promising in a Twitter video he recorded in English to "Make our planet great again!" The video was posted moments after Trump announced he wanted to pull out of the U.N.-sponsored Paris climate accord last year.

Policy toward Iran is another point of discord. France is the most vigorous defender of the 2015 deal curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions. Trump is threatening to abandon the agreement next month. Macron hopes to make progress this week on convincing Trump to stay onboard.

And then there's trade. Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel — who planned to visit Washington on Friday — have pushed back hard on Trump's steel tariffs and his America First vision, which threaten Europe's powerful single market.

By design, Macron's state visit will be more about symbolism than substance, and no big breakthroughs are expected.

But over the long term, Macron hopes his rapport with Trump will help mitigate some of their policy differences. His office holds up the U.S.-French cooperation on missile strikes on Syria this month as a model for future joint actions.

So how has Macron managed to avoid annoying Trump, famously sensitive to slights?

"He has played Trump very well," said Nicolas Dungan, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank.

While other world leaders and veterans of Beltway politics have made Trump feel like an outsider, Macron "accepts him and respects him rather than disdaining him," Dungan said. "It's a very effective strategy of influence ... through respect and treating him legitimately."

At least so far. Macron still runs the risk of getting "tagged with Trump's vulgarity, which so far he's been immune to," Dungan said.

Macron's ease in speaking English probably helped in establishing a rapport — as did his ability to play the tough-guy game that Trump relishes.

Despite being smaller and younger than Trump, Macron has been able to spar in a way that begets admiration instead of resentment, starting with their first meeting at a NATO summit in May, where Macron took Trump's hand and wouldn't let go.

In Trump's confrontational world, "Macron comes across as straight arrow, ready for a fight," said Francois Heisbourg, a former French government adviser and current chair of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. At their NATO meeting, "Macron twists his arm. And this is the beginning of a great friendship," Heisbourg said.

The French president's U.S. visit will highlight "Macron's rather uncanny ability" to get along with hard-line leaders, Heisbourg said. "He is apparently the only one who can actually talk with all of them substantively, while at the same time not appearing to be jettisoning his own values."

Macron also hopes the Washington trip will also raise his profile everywhere else — from the EU to Syria and Israel-Palestinian peacemaking.

The trip will be a welcome distraction from Macron's troubles at home: He takes off the same day labor strikes are expected to halt a majority of French trains and a quarter of Air France flights.

As Macron prepares to be feted at two fancy dinners and give a special speech to Congress, the White House and Elysee Palace are stressing their likenesses instead of points of discord.

Both Macron and Trump are newcomers to politics with a background in business. And France is considered the first American ally, for helping the colonists win the Revolutionary War.

Macron will celebrate the long-running alliance by giving Trump an oak tree sapling from the site of one of the first World War I battles involving American troops, the Battle of Belleau Wood.

It's a sign of appreciation for the sacrifices America made for France— and an apparent nod to Macron's concern for the environment.

He wants it planted in the White House gardens.
Donald Trump meets with French president Emmanuel Macron to discuss the Iran nuclear deal along with economics and trading.