President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Thursday to criticize his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron for what he called sending “mixed signals” to Iran by inviting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to this month’s Group of 7 (G-7) summit to meet with Trump.
“Iran is in serious financial trouble. They want desperately to talk to the U.S., but are given mixed signals from all of those purporting to represent us, including President Macron of France,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “I know Emmanuel means well, as do all others, but nobody speaks for the United States but the United States itself. No one is authorized in any way, shape, or form, to represent us!”
Trump’s criticism comes shortly after it was reported that Rouhani sought in telephone conversations with Macron to ease tensions with Washington. A French diplomat dismissed these reports Wednesday, saying that the Iranian president was not invited to the forum and therefore had not rejected the proposal, Politico writes.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalated last week when Washington slapped the Middle Eastern country’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif with sanctions on top of previous ones imposed by the U.S. on Iran. The move came after President Trump decided to pull out of the 2015 nuclear deal his predecessor had signed with Iran and five European countries, including France, which have been making efforts to salvage the agreement.
Rouhani noted on Tuesday that for negotiations to take place between Washington and Tehran, the U.S. must lift all sanctions on Iran. President Trump, on his part, has employed a “maximum pressure” approach to force Iran back to the negotiating table.
Since the U.S. left the nuclear deal, Iran has vowed to end its commitments to it and has begun enriching uranium above the levels set in the nuclear deal. The European signatories are therefore seeking to negotiate with Tehran to reverse its decision.
Be the first to comment