SYDNEY (AP) - The Latest on French President Emmanuel Macron[1]’s visit to Australia[2] (all times local):
2:55 p.m.
French President Emmanuel Macron[3] has stepped up calls for the renegotiation of the Iran nuclear agreement as tensions mount over the country’s weapons capabilities.
With a May 12 deadline looming for President Donald Trump to decide whether or not to pull out of the deal and re-impose sanctions against Iran, Macron[4] says regardless of that decision a new agreement should be negotiated with Teheran.
Macron[5], who told the United Nations last September that the current deal was not sufficient, told a news conference it should be broadened to address three new main areas - Iran’s nuclear activity after the current deal expires in 2025; improvements in the monitoring and controlling of Iran’s domestic nuclear activity, and to have better containment of Iranian activity in the Middle East, especially in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.
Macron[6] says Trump responded “positively” to his recent suggestion for a new agreement, while he had also “exchanged about that” in the past few days with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Macron[7] says whatever Trump’s coming decision, a broader deal is needed because “nobody wants a war in the region and nobody wants an escalation in terms of tension in the region.”
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1:20 p.m.
French President Emmanuel Macron[8] says Australia[9]’s wartime cooperation with France[10] is a powerful message as global nationalism rises.Macron[11] spoke at Sydney’s main war memorial Wednesday on his visit to Australia[12] a week after he criticized President Donald Trump’s “America first” policies on a trip to Washington and hours after a gathering in France[13] of European anti-immigration populist leaders.Macron[14] thanked Australia[15] for sending “a huge part of its population” to fight in France[16] in both world wars.He said the memory of Australian sacrifice in France[17] was “a powerful message at a time when nationalism is looming, entrenched behind its borders and its hostility to the rest of the world.”He added: “No great nation has ever been built by turning its back on the world.”Copyright © 2018 The Washington Times, LLC. ...