JCPOA One Pillar of A Broader Agreement with 4 Pillars: Macron

While imperfect, the Iran nuclear deal should not be tossed aside but instead become one pillar of a broader agreement focused on four pillars, Macron said during a meeting with his American counterpart Donald Trump on Tuesday at the White House, the New York Times reported.

“The first would curb Iran’s nuclear program through 2025 or beyond, as the 2015 agreement made by President Barack Obama does, while the second would extend those limits. The third pillar would prevent Iran from developing ballistic missiles and the fourth would discourage it from interfering in neighboring countries,” he said.

At the meeting, Trump again assailed the agreement made by the Obama administration as “insane” and “ridiculous,” but said he could agree to “a new deal” negotiated by American and European officials if it was strong enough.

“Nobody knows what I’m going to do on the 12th, although Mr. President, you have a pretty good idea,” he said in an appearance with Macron, who winked at him in silent reply.

“But we’ll see. But we’ll see also if I do what some people expect, whether or not it will be possible to do a new deal with solid foundations. Because this is a deal with decayed foundations. It’s a bad deal. It’s a bad structure. It’s falling down. It should have never, ever been made.”

Trump in January set a 120-day deadline for US lawmakers and European allies to “fix” his predecessor Barack Obama's main foreign policy achievement or face a US exit.

Since the historic deal was signed by Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) in Vienna in July 2015, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly confirmed the Islamic Republic’s compliance with its commitments under the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), but some other parties, especially the US, have failed to live up to their undertakings.