New Iran president calls Macron about stalled nuclear talks

In his first phone call to a Western leader, the new president of Iran has asked his French counterpart to help secure Iran’s “rights” in now-stalled talks to revive Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers

TEHRAN, Iran -- In his first phone call to a Western leader, the new president of Iran asked his French counterpart Monday to help secure Iran's “rights” in now-stalled talks to revive Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers. Ebrahim Raisi, the hard-line cleric and protégé of Iran's supreme leader who took office last week, told French President Emmanuel Macron that the U.S. and European Union must implement their commitments under the landmark 2015 deal, the official IRNA news agency reported. France, alongside the U.S., Germany, Britain, Russia and China, was part of the original 2015 nuclear agreement and has played a prominent role as intermediary. “In any negotiation, the rights of the Iranian nation should be secured and guaranteed," he said, criticizing the U.S. for abandoning the accord and reimposing crushing sanctions under former President Donald Trump.