France: US has to clarify position regarding EU

ANKARA

French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that the U.S. president should clarify his position regarding the EU.

"What is certain is that we have some ambiguities, especially when you look at [Donald] Trump’s position regarding Brexit, and the fact that he promotes a hard Brexit," Macron said in an interview published by New Yorker magazine.

"I think he has to clarify his position vis-a-vis Europe," he added.

Emphasizing the rising far-right threat in Europe, Macron said that it did not affect the European Parliament elections as it had previously been expected.

"A few months ago, a lot of people thought that this new coalition of the far right could take a majority or block a majority in the European Parliament, which didn’t happen," he said.

"This is, for me, one of the positive outcomes of the elections," Macron said, alleging that far right actors received backing from various foreign sources.

Macron said he did see Trump and his administration as one of these powers.

Separately, Macron said earlier that he would discuss the climbing tension between the U.S. and Iran with Trump during this week’s G20 summit in Japan.

Tensions have been rising between the U.S. and Iran since May 2018, when Washington unilaterally withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany and the EU.

However, despite the U.S.' "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran with new sanctions, EU heavyweights -- Germany, France and the U.K. -- continue to back the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.

The U.S. has since embarked upon a diplomatic and economic campaign to put pressure on Iran in order to renegotiate the agreement, as well as other Iranian activities Washington considers to be destabilizing.

As part of its campaign, the U.S. has reimposed sanctions on exports of Iranian crude oil, which have nosedived the Iranian economy.