Iraq-Iran: Emmanuel Macron on the offensive in the Middle East
The French and Iranian presidents, MM.
Macron and Raïssi, exchanged for the first time by phone Monday, August 9, 2021. STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN, ATTA KENARE POOL / AFP / Archivos
Text by: RFI Follow
5 mins
The French president spoke for the first time with his Iranian counterpart by phone, this Monday, August 9, 2021, after the latter came to power.
This hour-long call is the first telephone interview between the new Iranian president and a Western leader.
Emmanuel Macron also spoke with the Iraqi Prime Minister, to confirm his participation in the possible regional conference that Baghdad wishes to organize in August on his soil.
Publicity
Read more
During his first exchange with Emmanuel Macron, the new Iranian President
Ebrahim Raïssi
warned on Monday that any new discussion between the Islamic Republic and the major international powers, concerning the Iranian nuclear agreement, should respect "
the rights
" of Tehran . The French head of state had invited his interlocutor to return "
quickly
" to the negotiating table.
France is part of the “P5 + 1” group, which also includes the other members of the UN Security Council - United Kingdom, United States, Russia, China - as well as Germany.
These countries had concluded in 2015 with Iran the Vienna agreement, which provided for the easing of sanctions against Tehran, in exchange for concrete commitments on its part to limit its nuclear research program.
The agreement was signed during Barack Obama's time, before being torpedoed by Donald Trump, who got the United States out of this “deal” unilaterally, in 2018, restoring severe sanctions against Iran in the process.
So Tehran had given up on most of its key commitments.
Joe Biden is now president, Mr. Macron therefore wants new discussions to take place in Austria.
Beforehand, the French president asks his counterpart to "
put an end without delay to all the nuclear activities which he pursues in violation of the agreement
". To which Ebrahim Raïssi, of much more conservative tendency than his predecessor Hassan Rohani, replied that "
in any negotiation, the rights of the Iranian people must be preserved and the interests of our nation guaranteed
".
In the eyes of the Iranian president, "
the Americans have clearly violated their obligations by imposing new sanctions
", and European countries have "
failed
" to circumvent these sanctions. But as he explained during his swearing-in before Parliament, Mr. Raïssi said he remained open to "
any diplomatic plan
", as long as it was not a "
policy of pressure and sanctions
" from the great powers.
Since the victory, at the end of 2020, of Democrat Joe Biden to the detriment of Republican Donald Trump, between April and June, six negotiation sessions have taken place in Vienna between Iran and the P5 + 1 group in an attempt to revive the application of the 2015 agreement. The last meeting dates back to June 20. Since then,
no new date
has been set, pending the entry into office of the new Iranian leadership team.
During their telephone interview, Emmanuel Macron and Ebrahim Raïssi also called for strengthening bilateral relations between France and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The new Iranian president has finally expressed Tehran's determination "
to ensure security and to maintain (its capacity) of deterrence in the Persian Gulf region and in the Arabian Sea
", reports Agence France-Presse. .
Iraq, the other telephone exchange of the day
This Monday, August 9, 2021, on the sidelines of his discussions with Mr. Raïssi, Emmanuel Macron also spoke by phone with the Iraqi Prime Minister Moustafa al-Kazimi. The French president "
confirmed his intention to participate
" in the large regional conference that Baghdad wishes to organize at the end of August, in the wake of the mediation between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which it is leading. for months. According to the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mr. Macron once again "
hailed Iraqi diplomacy as a balanced diplomacy
". This will be the second visit of the French Head of State to Iraq in less than a year. Several hundred French soldiers are still engaged in Operation Chammal, which fights against the jihadists within the international coalition in Iraq and Syria.
For now, there is no date or full list of participants for this possible conference from Iraq, a country which is currently trying to return to the forefront of the diplomatic scene, on the strength of its 2017 military victories against the Islamic State group, and its good neighborly relations in the region. Baghdad says it has sent invitations to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as King Salman of Saudi Arabia. For the time being, however, Iraq has not communicated on a possible participation of the new Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi. The Islamic Republic, which has a strong presence in Iraq, in particular through the Hachd al-Chaabi paramilitary coalition, is Riyadh's great regional rival, Washington's traditional ally in the Middle East.
For months, Baghdad has acted as a mediator between the great Shiite power and the great Sunni power, which broke off their relations in 2016. Iraq has even already hosted discussions between the two adversaries on its soil.
With two months of legislative elections, Mustafa al-Kazimi wants to assert his stature.
But Emmanuel Macron also wants to weigh.
The other big topic that the participants of this conference should address is the fight against terrorist groups.
If Iraq has regained control of its territory, the IS group remains active there.
However, Washington announced last month that it would soon end its combat operations in Iraq.
Also, the French president therefore clearly intends, through American redeployment, to strengthen French positions.
→ Also listen: In Iraq, the return of the state?
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Iraq
Iran
France
Emmanuel Macron
Ebrahim Raisi
Diplomacy