"A difficult road" and a surprise step .. Zarif summit of the seven and meet Macron and European officials

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday attended the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, and held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and European officials.

The French presidency said the talks between the Iranian foreign minister and French officials were positive and would continue in the future.

Zarif met with Macron, the French foreign and finance ministers, as well as diplomatic advisers from Germany and Britain.

Zarif's visit to the G7 headquarters comes as Paris intensifies efforts to ease tensions between Tehran and Washington.

The White House said the move was a surprise and that the United States was unaware of it, while the French presidency said that "the delegations were informed but everything was done in haste."

"The discussions between the president and Zarif were positive and will continue," a French official said after the meeting.

"The road ahead is difficult, but worth trying," Zarif wrote on Twitter, adding that in addition to meeting with French leaders, he shared a joint briefing with officials from Germany and Britain.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he had not been formally authorized by G7 leaders to send messages to Iran, but would continue his country's efforts over the coming weeks to ease tensions with Tehran.

Strenuous efforts
European leaders have been struggling to prevent a possible confrontation between Iran and the United States since Trump's decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and reimpose sanctions on Iran's economy.

Trump is pushing Iran to the limit, with the aim of forcing it into new negotiations, including its ballistic missile program and activities in the region.

Macron took the lead in Europe to try to salvage the Iranian nuclear deal and avert a deeper crisis in the Middle East. He met Zarif in Paris on Friday.

Zarif and Macron discussed proposals to contain the crisis, including easing some US sanctions or giving Iran an economic compensation mechanism for oil revenues lost by US sanctions.

A French diplomat said Macron proposed to his US counterpart Donald Trump to allow Iran to export its oil for a specified period in exchange for not enriching uranium.

Tehran wants to export at least 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil, and up to 1.5 million bpd later, if the West wants to negotiate with it to save the nuclear deal, a diplomat and two Iranian officials said.

Trump ignores
Macron predicted that Iran would fully abide by the nuclear deal in response to any concession and would engage in new negotiations, including its ballistic missile program and activities in the region.

But a European diplomat said the leaders had failed to convince Trump. The US president had no comment on Iran, but appeared to ignore French mediation efforts.

The US president said that while he was happy with Macron's efforts to ease tensions with Tehran, he would continue his own initiatives.

An Iranian official reiterated his country's refusal to negotiate its ballistic missile program.