MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron agreed in a phone conversation on the need to preserve and fully implement the Iran nuclear deal, the Kremlin said in a statement on Monday.
The phone call took place at the initiative of the French administration, the Kremlin statement said. According to the Kremlin, Macron told Putin about the results of his visit to the U.S., putting an emphasis on his negotiations on the Iranian nuclear programme. “The presidents of Russia and France expressed their support to preservation and implementation of the plan. Other current issues of international and bilateral agendas were also discussed,” the statement read. NAN reports that on April 24,  macron while on a state visit to the U.S. offered the idea of a new deal at a joint White House press conference with his U.S. counterpart as a way of salvaging the 2015 agreement, which Trump has threatened to leave. The offer seemed calculated to appease the U.S. president’s discontent with the current agreement, the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Programme of Action (JCPOA) by proposing a broader initiative to tackle other elements of Iran’s challenge in the region, particularly its ballistic missile programme, and its military role in Syria. (Reuters)