Iranian FM Zarif praises Macron’s suggestions on nuclear deal crisis

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Friday that suggestions by French President Emmanuel Macron about defusing the crisis over Tehran’s nuclear drive were a move in the right direction, though more work still needed to be done.

Macron made “some suggestions last week to President [Hassan] Rouhani and we believe they are moving in the right direction, although we are not definitely there yet,” Zarif told AFP, after meeting Macron for rare talks in Paris.

The French president “is now going to discuss with European partners and other partners to see where we can go from here,” Zarif added.

The minister reaffirmed that if Tehran believed Europe could begin to fulfil its part of the bargain on the nuclear deal, Iran could then reverse the measures it took to ramp up its nuclear program. Zarif also made it clear that it was possible to solve the issue even without the involvement of the US in the nuclear deal.