In total contrast to President Donald Trump of the United States of America position on the Iranian nuclear deal, President Emmanuel Macron hailed the deal in his address to the United Nations General Assembly yesterday.
President Trump earlier in his speech called the deal an “embarrassment to the United States”.
“Renouncing it would be a grave error, not respecting it would be irresponsible, because it is a good accord that is essential to peace at a time where the risk of an infernal conflagration cannot be excluded,” President Macron said.
The French president added that he had made his position clear to both President Trump and President Hassan Rouhani of Iran when he met with them on Monday.
Whereas Trump levelled some of his most bellicose rhetoric at North Korea, threatening to “totally destroying” the country should it threaten the United States or its allies, Macron struck a more conciliatory note, saying France would not close the door to negotiations over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
President Trump at the UN
Macron also told the United Nations that the Paris Climate Accord would not be renegotiated but said “the door will be open” for the United States to return to the agreement if it so wishes. This agreement will not be renegotiated,” Macron said in his maiden speech to the General Assembly. “We will not retreat.”
Macron noted that the international community had so far fallen short of successfully addressing major threats such as climate change. Now more than ever before, we need common efforts to tackle environmental challenges and other global issues, Macron said, including war and terrorism.
“We can only address those challenges through multilateralism, not through survival of the fittest.”
On the Rohingya Muslim crisis in Myanmar, President Macron agreed with most of the the world that the military action is ethnic cleansing. “The military operation must stop, humanitarian access must be guaranteed and the rule of law restored in the face of what we know is ethnic cleansing,” he said.
On the intractable conflict in Syria, Macron proposed forming a “contact group” to help end the six-year war. Macron said that talks so far led by Russia, Iran and Turkey “were not enough” and called for a new multilateral diplomatic effort.
