President Donald Trump and President Emmanuel Macron met at the G7 Summit in the Alps on Monday, where the French President hailed the Iran deal as an important step towards peace.
The three-day G7 conference kicked off in Evian, France, on Monday and visiting U.S. President Donald Trump was welcomed by his French counterpart and conference host President Emmanuel Macron. The men made bilateral remarks at the conference before the cameras where the new Iran war deal featured heavily, with President Trump hailing the falling oil price on the news.
Addressing the press, President Macron said he welcomed President Trump to the G7 and offered his encouragement for the Iran peace deal, saying it would “fix” the nuclear issue which has been at the heart of the friction between Iran and the West for years. He said:
Yesterday was signed a very important agreement, a peace deal with Iran. It’s a very important one because first it will fix the nuclear issue. And it’s very important matter for peace, for the whole world. It will help [enormously], it will provide peace in Lebanon… it’s a very important step towards peace, as well as for the global economy.
President Macron also touched on France’s mooted role in a security assurance force that a coalition of nations have said they would be willing to contribute to, to patrol the Strait of Hormuz. These nations, which included the United Kingdom and Japan, had made clear they wouldn’t put their ships in harm’s way while the war was ongoing, but would deploy once a ceasefire was signed, and that time appears to have arrived.
The French leader said: “we are ready to take our fair share of the burden and be part of the commitment of the international community in order to support this deal. We will discuss this together and with other colleagues later on.” These remarks follow others he made earlier in the day when, as reported, President Macron said the country’s single nuclear aircraft carrier and its attendant battlegroup would be ready to deploy within days.
President Trump reciprocated on Macron’s comments, calling the French leader a “special friend of mine” with him he has a “fantastic” relationship. Both men said the focus would now move on from Iran to solving the war in Ukraine, with President Macron saying the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, would be present for talks on Tuesday.
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