French President Emmanuel Macron stressed the “need to accelerate” efforts to achieve progress in the Iranian nuclear talks, during a telephone call with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi, aides said Sunday.
Macron’s call with Raisi on Saturday came a day after the EU mediator said the latest negotiating round in Vienna had been put on pause while calling for “political decisions” to break the deadlock.
Diplomats have been meeting in the Austrian capital in the search for a breakthrough to revive the 2015 deal involving Iran, the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.
“The president has reiterated his conviction that a diplomatic solution is possible and imperative and stressed that any agreement will require clear and sufficient commitment from all the parties,” the French presidency said in a statement.
“Several months after negotiations resumed in Vienna, (Macron) insisted on the need to accelerate in order to quickly achieve tangible progress in this context,” it said.
During a “long exchange” with his Iranian counterpart, Macron stressed “the need for Iran to show a constructive approach and return to the complete application of its obligations”.
The Iranian presidency, in a brief statement after the call, said Tehran had proved its willingness and determination to reach a negotiated deal.
Western commitments to bring about a revival of the 2015 agreement needed to include a lifting of Western sanctions and a verification procedure for that process, it said.