New York, Sep 25: French President Emmanuel Macron has on Tuesday said conditions have been created for a bilateral meeting between US President Donald Trump and their Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani in New York on the sidelines of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
The statement comes a few days after both Trump and Rouhani ruled out any possibility of face-to-face dialogues on the margins of the UNGA 2019 session.
However, Macron said the decision of holding a bilateral meeting still remained under control of both leaders over whether they seek to move forward, according to Al-Jazeera news reports.
“I believe that the conditions in this context for a rapid return to negotiations have been created,” Macron said on Tuesday, following his bilateral meetings with Trump and Rouhani respectively on the sidelines of the UNGA session.
“There is a common intent to progress and to not just find the terms of de-escalation, but to build a long-term accord,” he said. “But it depends on the will of both sides.”
Macron has been making efforts for diplomatic solutions to numbers of issues pertaining between the United States and the Islamic Republic in the midst of the intense tension in the Middle East.
On Sep 16, Iran said President Hassan Rouhani will be not meeting his United States counterpart at the United Nations (UN), a few hours after White House stated it left doors open for the potential nuclear dialogues between Rouhani and Trump, according to Reuters.
On Sep 18, Trump stated, “I’m not looking to meet him. I don’t think they’re ready yet but they’ll be ready,” Trump said. “I never rule anything out but I’d prefer not meeting him,” according to Reuters.
Iranian officials have reiterated their refusal to a meeting and any possible dialogues with the US while Tehran is still under strict US sanctions, which Trump re-imposed post withdrawing from 2015 landmark international Iranian nuclear accord, inked between Tehran and world powers to curb Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange of sanctions relief.
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