French president: JCPOA should be preserved

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday reiterated the importance of preserving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) while at the same time criticizing Tehran's missile program

News ID: 69662

Date: 11 April 2018 - 09:59

Tehran(Defapress) Speaking at a joint press conference in Paris with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman after signing trade and economic deals worth 18 billion dollars, Macron said the differences of opinion between Paris and Riyadh over the JCPOA is tactical.

Claiming that there are some flaws in the JCPOA, he said France agrees with Saudi Arabia that Iran's ballistic missile program and its expansionist policies should be restricted.

Referring to Western media claims about Syrian army's alleged chemical attack on Douma city, Macron said he would make decision on a possible military action in coming days. He however said that France was not supposed to target allies of the Syrian regime or anybody else rather it would attack Syria's chemical capabilities.

Macron's remarks come at a time when under a 2014 agreement the Syrian government delivered all its chemical weapons to the representatives of the United Nations and the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and to this date no evidence has been provided to prove Damascus' breach of its commitments.

The French president also pointed to conflicts in Yemen and said Paris would host a meeting on the issue in summer. This is while France is one of the major suppliers of arms to Saudi Arabia which has drawn harsh criticism from human rights organizations.

According to an opinion poll conducted recently, 75 percent of French people want the Paris government to stop its arms exports to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and lessen its backing of the two countries.

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