By Our
Reporters, BIARRITZ France
Iran’s
foreign minister paid a visit to a G7 summit in France on Sunday, an unexpected
twist to a meeting already troubled by differences between U.S. President
Donald Trump and Western allies over a raft of issues, including Iran.
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French
President Emmanuel Macron, U.S. President Donald Trump, Japan's Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Angela
Merkel, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Italy's acting Prime
Minister Giuseppe Conte pose for a family photo with invited guests during the
G7 summit in Biarritz, France, August 25, 2019.
A White House official said France’s invitation to
Mohammad Javad Zarif for talks on the sidelines of the gathering in the
southwestern beachside town of Biarritz was “a surprise”.
Zarif met his French counterpart to assess what
conditions could lead to a de-escalation of tensions between Tehran and
Washington, a French official said.
Zarif also saw French President Emmanuel Macron
during his brief stay, but the White House official said the Iranian minister
did not meet any U.S. officials before he flew out of Biarritz airport.
European leaders have struggled to calm a deepening
confrontation between Iran and the United States since Trump pulled his country
out of Iran’s internationally brokered 2015 nuclear deal last year and
reimposed sanctions on the Iranian economy.
Earlier on Sunday, Trump appeared to brush aside
French efforts to mediate with Iran, saying that while he was happy for Paris
to reach out to Tehran he would carry on with his own initiatives.
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| Mohammad Javad Zarif |
Macron has taken the lead in trying to defuse
tensions, fearing that a collapse of the nuclear deal could set the Middle East
ablaze. He met Zarif on Friday ahead of the G7 summit to discuss ways of easing
the crisis, including reducing some U.S. sanctions or providing Iran with a
compensation mechanism.
Iran wants to export a minimum of 700,000 barrels
per day of its oil and ideally up to 1.5 million bpd if the West wants to
negotiate with Tehran to save the 2015 deal, two Iranian officials and one
diplomat told Reuters on Sunday.
However, Trump’s fellow G7 leaders failed on Saturday
to persuade the U.S. president to reissue oil sanction waivers that were
granted last year to some buyers, but which came to end in May, a European
diplomat familiar with the discussion said.
Trump, a turbulent presence at last year’s G7
gathering, insisted on Sunday that he was getting along well with other leaders
of a group that also includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and
Japan.
But rifts emerged on issues from his intensifying
trade war with China to the nuclear ambitions of both Iran and North Korea, and
the question of whether Russian President Vladimir Putin should be readmitted
to the group.
Russia was excluded from what used to be the G8 in
2014 after it annexed Ukraine’s Crimea and then backed an anti-Kiev rebellion
in the industrial region of Donbas in eastern Ukraine.
A European official who declined to be named said
Russia was the thorniest issue discussed over dinner on Saturday.
“(The conversation) became a bit tense over this
idea of the G7 being a club of liberal democracies ... that point was clearly
not shared by the U.S. president,” the official said.
Trump’s argument was that on a number of issues,
like Iran and Syria, it made more sense to have Putin involved in the talks
given that Russia is a key player there.
New British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday
congratulated Macron for hosting a difficult encounter.
“You’re doing well,” Johnson said on the sidelines
of the summit. “You did very well last night, my God, that was a difficult one,
you did really, you did really well.”
The G7 gathering is taking place against a backdrop
of worries that a global economic downturn could be exacerbated by the
escalating tariff war between Washington and Beijing.
Britain’s Johnson voiced concern on Saturday about
creeping protectionism and said those who support tariffs “are at risk of
incurring the blame for the downturn in the global economy”. Sitting across
from Trump on Sunday, he said: “We’re in favor of trade peace on the whole, and
dialing it down if we can.”
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte warned other
leaders of the dangers of protectionism and urged Washington not to carry
through on its threat to impose tariffs on German autos.
However, the White House doubled down on its
aggressive stance toward trade with China.
White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham,
explaining what Trump meant when he said earlier on Sunday that he had had
second thoughts after announcing more tariff raises on Chinese goods last week,
said that he simply regretted not hiking them higher.
Looking to broaden the gathering, Macron invited
several African leaders to discuss problems facing their continent, while
leaders from India, Australia, Chile and Spain joined the group for dinner on
Sunday where the focus was on the environment and other issues.
However, senior U.S. officials accused Macron of
looking “to fracture the G7” by focusing on “niche issues” rather than major
global concerns.
France denied this, pointing to Sunday’s initial
session covering the economy, trade and security - areas that used to draw easy
consensus but are now sources of great friction.
Trump up-ended last year’s G7 meeting in Canada,
walking out early and disassociating himself from the final communique.
Amid the wrangling this time around, some potential
positives emerged, with Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreeing
in principle to core elements of a trade deal.
“It’s billions and billions of dollars. Tremendous
for the farmers,” Trump said.
However, the two men appeared at odds over North
Korea’s series of short-range missile launches.
Trump, who prizes his relationship with North
Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said the launches did not violate an agreement and
were in line with what others were doing. Abe, sitting across from him, said
they breached U.N. resolutions.
At the start of the day, Trump said Britain would
have a major trade deal with Washington after it leaves the European Union.
Asked what his advice on Brexit was for Johnson, he replied: “He needs no
advice, he is the right man for the job”.
While the transatlantic rift is the most stark,
there are also deep divisions within the European camp, with Johnson making his
G7 debut at a time when he is struggling to persuade EU capitals to renegotiate
Britain’s exit from the bloc, which Johnson has said will happen on Oct. 31
come what may. - Reuters
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