Donald Trump said Monday he told Emmanuel Macron "Go ahead" when the French president announced the surprise visit of the head of Iranian diplomacy Sunday in Biarritz on the sidelines of the G7 summit. "I was aware of everything he did and I approved," said the US president, questioned on the initiative of his French counterpart.
Donald Trump will not meet him
Emmanuel Macron "asked for my approval and I said to him: if that's what you want, go ahead!", He told the press. But, he added, "I do not want to meet" the head of the Iranian diplomacy Mohammad Javad Zarif. "It is too early to meet him," he continued, as relations between Washington and Tehran are very tense following Donald Trump's denunciation of the international nuclear deal on Iran. "We are not looking for regime change" in Tehran but "we want a new rich Iran" and that it is "not nuclear", said the tenant of the White House.
The French presidency had assured Sunday night have well informed the Americans and other European countries before the visit of Javad Zarif, who met with French Foreign Ministers Jean-Yves Le Drian and Economy Bruno Le Maire before Emmanuel Macron at the town hall of Biarritz. The visit was "in agreement" with the United States, the presidency said.