Emmanuel Macron to Meet Trump and Rouhani at the United Nations

Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, will hold separate meetings with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and U.S. President Donald Trump next week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. These meetings come as Macron and other European leaders are working to preserve the global powers' nuclear agreement with Iran, which aimed to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions against Tehran; however, Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement on May 8 of this year. According to reports from the Elysee Palace, Macron will meet with Trump on Monday afternoon, October 2, and will then have dinner with Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The French President will deliver a speech at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday and will also engage in discussions with Rouhani that same day. Trump, who has reinstated sanctions against Tehran, had previously expressed his willingness to meet and negotiate with the leaders of the Islamic Republic. However, Iranian officials have rejected this proposal, with Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, emphasizing that negotiations with the U.S. are prohibited under current conditions. An Elysee Palace official stated that Macron's agenda at the UN General Assembly will address the United States' strategy regarding Iran, which this official described as 'maximum pressure.' The U.S. sanctions against Tehran have already inflicted serious damage on Iran's economy, with foreign companies announcing one after another that they are ending their operations in Iran. The second round of sanctions against Tehran, which are more severe than the current sanctions and target Iran's oil industry, is set to begin on November 4. Previously, Emmanuel Macron had attempted in several discussions with Donald Trump to dissuade him from his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the nuclear agreement, but his efforts were unsuccessful. The European Union, like the U.S., emphasizes that Iran's missile program and its policies in the Middle East are also a concern for the Union.