Sometimes foreign policy is unsuccessful notarial work. For more than two months, France tried to promote an end to the crisis between the United States and Iran. It was a question of allowing a meeting between Donald Trump and his counterpart Hassan Rohani, but above all to fix in writing mutual commitments and to stop the escalation started since the American unilateral withdrawal in May 2018 from the agreement on the nuclear program (JCPoA).
"There was a space of two, three months, from summer until mid-November, says a French diplomatic source. It has closed for now. " The Iranian legislative elections in February 2020 and the upcoming presidential campaign in the United States further complicate matters.
This effort, led by the Elysee, is the chronicle of a predictable failure, some experts believe. French mediation had a significant episode at the G7 summit in Biarritz in July, with the unexpected arrival of the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif. He was followed by multiple contacts at the end of September in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Mutual distrust
The parameters, promoted by Emmanuel Macron, were as follows: in exchange for a reduction in sanctions, Iran would return to the framework of the JCPoA, accept a discussion on its nuclear program beyond the 2025 deadline and address the subject regional security, which for Paris should involve the ballistic program. "It takes two to dance tango"said Macron in New York to his Iranian counterpart. "Religious do not dance tango", retorted the latter, according to a dialogue reported by a French source.
Through the voice of his ambassador in Paris, Bahram Ghasemi, questioned by The world, Iran points out that France’s involvement has been "Positively received" in Tehran, giving rise to"Intense negotiations", And this "Even if, given the conditions, Iran could not place much hope in this plan." A polite way of saying that French impotence was written.
However, for two days in New York, Mr. Macron and his entourage multiplied the contacts in order to favor an interview, at least by telephone, between the two leaders. The President's method of international relations was thus tested: seizing an opening, even a narrow one, in defiance of skeptical experts and the laws of political gravity; believe in your own ability to shake up the real. But mutual distrust was too powerful.
