French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes US President Donald Trump prior to a meeting at the Elysee Presidential Palace on July 13, 2017 in Paris, France. Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes France's Emmanuel Macron to the White House on Monday at the start of a three-day state visit expected to be dominated by U.S.-European differences on the Iran nuclear deal and souring trade relations.

It will be Trump's first hosting of a state visit since he took power in January 2017. The pair will get a sense of their two countries' shared history during an evening meal on Monday night at Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington, the first U.S. president and Revolutionary War commander whose alliance with France was critical to victory over the British.

The major work between them is scheduled for Tuesday during White House meetings, before Macron addresses Congress on Wednesday, the anniversary of the day that French General Charles de Gaulle addressed a Joint Session of Congress in 1960.

Trump and the 40-year-old French leader began their improbable friendship a year ago in Belgium with a jaw-clenching handshake. While other European leaders have kept a certain distance from Trump, Macron has worked hard to remain close to the U.S. president and the two leaders speak frequently by phone.

Macron is on something of a rescue mission for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Trump has vowed to scrap unless European allies strengthen it by mid-May.

The deal reached between Iran, the United States and five other world powers put curbs on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Macron said on Fox News Sunday that it would be better to protect the Iran deal instead of get rid of it, saying there is no "Plan B" to take its place.

"Is this agreement perfect and this JCPOA a perfect thing for our relationship with Iran? No. But for nuclear -- what do you have? As a better option? I don't see it," he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Donald Trump react in the courtyard after a joint news conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, July 13, 2017. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

Macron also wants to persuade Trump to exempt European nations from steel tariffs that are part of the U.S. president's plan to reduce chronic trade deficits with countries around the world, chiefly China.

His visit comes at a time of mounting alarm in Europe over the knock-on effect that U.S. sanctions on Russia will have on their own manufacturing industries.

An official in the French presidency said Paris and other European capitals were coordinating efforts to persuade Trump to ease sanctions on Russia, including measures against Russian aluminum producers.

"We're working on that with our European partners," the source said.

The two leaders are also expected to discuss Syria, less than two weeks after the United States, France and Britain launched airstrikes in Syria in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack that killed dozens in Douma, Syria.

Macron said last week that he believed he had persuaded Trump to keep U.S. troops in Syria, but Trump has been insistent on bringing them home, although he has not publicly provided a definite timetable.

Whether substantive progress will be made on these and other issues was unclear.

"Whether we will actually solve, or come to closure, or a full detailed agreement on some of the issues that we've touched on is difficult to say at this remove," a senior administration official told reporters on Friday. </s> French President Emmanuel Macron offered support Tuesday for President Donald Trump’s view that a new Iranian nuclear agreement is necessary.

France is among the seven signatories to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in addition to the United States, Great Britain, Germany, China and Russia — a deal signed before either Trump or Macron took office.

In exchange for relief from economic sanctions, Iran agreed to significantly curtail its nuclear program over a 10-year period.

During a joint news conference Tuesday at the White House, Macron acknowledged that he and Trump had differing views regarding the efficacy of the agreement, with the French president arguing the U.S. should remain a party.

“It’s not a mystery, we did not have the same starting positions,” Macron said. “I can say that we’ve had very frank discussion on that, just the two of us. You consider that the Iranian deal, the JCPOA, the one negotiated in 2015 with Iran is a bad deal.

“For a number of months I’ve been saying that this was not a sufficient deal but that it enabled us at least until 2025 to have some control over their nuclear activities. We, therefore, wish to work on a new deal with Iran.”

The French president identified multiple topics that need to be addressed in that regard.

They include blocking any nuclear development from Iran until 2025, for which the JCPOA laid the groundwork, but the French president believes there is a need to go beyond the terms of the agreement to find a longer term solution.

Another vital issue, according to Macron, would be to put an end to Iran’s ballistic missile testing. A final objective would be to thwart Iran’s efforts to destabilize the region through its intervention in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.

Macron emphasized he believes a new agreement can be had, which includes not just the JCPOA nations, but countries in the Middle East, as well.

Earlier in the day, Trump described the Iran deal as “insane” and “ridiculous.”

RELATED: Iran Threatens ‘Very Unpleasant’ Action if Trump Pulls Out of Iran Deal

“We’re going to be talking about it,” the president said in the Oval Office. “We will see. People know my views. It was a terrible deal. It shouldn’t have been made. We could have made a good deal or reasonable deal. The Iran deal is a terrible deal.”

Trump faces a May 12 deadline to decide whether he will re-certify that Iran is in compliance with the agreement.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned the United States would face “grave” consequences if the United States withdraws from the JCPOA.

“If someone wants to betray our nation and the deal, grave consequences will affect them,” Rouhani said during a speech broadcast on State TV.

During Tuesday’s joint news conference with Macron, Trump said, “There is a chance, and nobody knows what’s I’m going to do on the 12th, although Mr. President (Macron), you have a pretty good idea, but we’ll see.”

“But we’ll see also if I do what some people expect, whether or not it will be possible to do a new deal with solid foundations, because this is a deal with decayed foundations,’ he added.

What do you think? Scroll down to comment below. </s> LONDON – Britain, France and Germany have agreed that the nuclear deal that US President Donald Trump has threatened to scrap remains the best way of stopping Tehran getting nuclear weapons, British Prime Minister Theresa May’s office said on Sunday.

May had phone calls with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel where they agreed the deal may need to be broadened to cover areas such as ballistic missiles, what happens when the deal expires, and what they consider Iran’s destabilizing regional activity, a statement said.

“They committed to continue working closely together and with the US on how to tackle the range of challenges that Iran poses – including those issues that a new deal might cover,” the statement said.

This comes as a deadline looms next month for Trump to decide on whether to restore US economic sanctions on Tehran - something which could destroy the 2015 agreement which lifted some sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran’s nuclear program.

Speaking on a whistle-stop Middle East tour on Sunday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington would abandon the nuclear deal unless talks with European partners yield improvements.

“We’ve certainly made some (progress with the Europeans),” he said. “There is still work to do. They said: ‘Great, we will support you if you get the fixes’.”

Macron later spoke with President Hassan Rouhani and agreed to work with him in coming weeks to preserve the nuclear deal, his office said in a statement.

The French president also called for discussions on Iran’s ballistic missile programs, its nuclear activities beyond 2025 and the country’s role in Middle East crises, according to his office, in a conversation that lasted more than an hour. </s> German Chancellor Angela Merkel is making a brief "working visit" at the White House with US President Donald Trump Friday.

The brief trip, which follows French President Emmanuel Macron's state visit to the United States, comes amid heightened tensions between Berlin and Washington over US trade policy and Trump's opposition to the Iran nuclear deal.

Read more: US-German conflicts — what you need to know

Macron's US visit: French President Emmanuel Macron Emmanual spent three days in the US earlier in the week in a state visit to the US. The French president used his trip to lobby Trump to stay in a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and refrain from slapping tariffs on goods from allied countries.

Read more: France's Emmanuel Macron urges Donald Trump not to ditch Iran deal

Protecting free trade from Trump: The US enacted tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in late March, but temporarily exempted European imports from the measures at the last minute. Germany's exporting companies have called on Merkel to convince Washington to maintain the exemption beyond the May 1.

Protecting the Iran deal from Trump: Trump has repeatedly criticized the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and threatened to withdraw the US from it unless changes are made by May 12. The agreement suspended international sanctions in return for Iran promising to halt its nuclear program. Merkel and Macron want to save the deal.

Merkel's cheeseburger: The German chancellor ate a cheeseburger with bacon and French fries after she arrived in Washington on Thursday evening, according to a waiter from "J. Pauls" restaurant. The waiter, who told German broadcaster n-tv about the meal, said Merkel washed it all down with a Pinot Grigio.

Read more: Can Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron save the Iran nuclear deal? </s> The leaders of the U.K., Germany and France agreed this weekend that the Iran nuclear deal is the “best way” to prevent the country from becoming armed with nuclear weapons.

British Prime Minister Theresa May spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel separately on Saturday and Sunday to discuss the Iran deal as well as U.S. tariffs, according to No. 10 Downing Street. A German government spokesman also confirmed Merkel’s conversation with May, as well as her own phone call with Macron on Saturday.

“They discussed the importance of the Iran nuclear deal … as the best way of neutralising the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, agreeing that our priority as an international community remained preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon,” Downing Street said in a statement.

“They agreed that there were important elements that the deal does not cover, but which we need to address — including ballistic missiles, what happens when the deal expires and Iran’s destabilising regional activity.”

Downing Street said May, Merkel and Macron also pledged to “continue working closely” with the U.S. on the issue, including on “those issues that a new deal might cover.”

The statement comes after both Macron and Merkel visited U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington within the past week. Macron had hoped to convince Trump to stay in the deal, but said that after his conversations with the U.S. leader, it appeared likely Trump would withdraw from the Obama-era accord on May 12, when a decision is due on whether to extend a suspension of sanctions against Iran.

During his White House visit, Macron floated the possibility of a “new deal” that would complete the current accord by making its terms stricter in several areas. Trump signaled openness to the idea, without endorsing it explicitly. But the two leaders did not come to an agreement over whether to keep the current deal and seek additional concessions from Iran, or tear it up and start over again.

Newly appointed U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday, after a meeting with foreign ministers at NATO, that he was working to address Trump’s complaints about the Iran nuclear accord, and that Trump would quit the deal unless there was “a substantive fix.”

The European leaders also discussed the impact of recently imposed U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum, for which the EU received a temporary exemption, according to Downing Street.

The trio expressed “concern” about the tariffs, and said they would continue to push for a permanent exemption for the EU. </s> CLOSE President Donald Trump says North Korea wants to hold a high-stakes meeting "as soon as possible" and he is praising Kim Jong Un as "very open" and "very honorable." (April 24) AP

President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron stand together at the beginning of the state arrival ceremony at the White House Tuesday, April 24, 2018. (Photo: Carolyn Kaster, AP)

WASHINGTON — President Trump vowed Tuesday to look for common ground with his French counterpart in dealing with Iran but made no commitment to stick with the nuclear agreement he described as "insane" and "ridiculous."

Receiving French President Emmanuel Macron for a state visit at the White House, Trump repeated his criticism of the agreement to freeze Iran's nuclear program, saying it doesn't address Tehran's missile program or its attempts to foment unrest in the region.

And Trump issued an explicit warning to Iran as the world waits to see whether his administration pulls out of the agreement next month.

“If they restart their nuclear program, they will have bigger problems than they have ever had before,” Trump said during a meeting with Macron in the Oval Office. "You can mark it down."

Still, he said, the U.S. and France were "beginning to understand each other" on the need to contain Iran.

Macron and other European leaders have encouraged Trump to remain in the agreement. Macron told reporters Tuesday he wants to work on a "new deal" with Iran that would build on the current agreement but also address Trump's concerns.

Macron described discussions at the White House as "very frank."

"It’s not a mystery we did not have the same starting positions or stances, and neither you nor I have a habit of changing our stances or going with the wind," Macron told Trump during a press conference in the East Room.

The two leaders also said that containing Iran was the key to lasting peace in Syria. Trump has previously said he wants to bring U.S. troops home from Syria quickly but Macron has urged a longer timeline. The president on Tuesday reiterated his desire for a speedy withdrawal but also injected nuance into his answer.

"As far as Syria is concerned, I would love to get out. I would love to bring our brave warriors back home," Trump said. "Emmanuel and myself have discussed that we don’t want to give Iran open season to the Mediterranean (Sea)."

Trump said he wanted to bring troops home "relatively soon" but said "we want to leave a strong and lasting footprint."

Throughout a heavily scripted series of meetings and ceremonial encounters, Trump and Macron showed off their close relationship through words and body language. Trump held Macron's hands, showered him with compliments and even brushed what he said was a piece of dandruff off of Macron's suit.

"I like him a lot," Trump said sheepishly after getting a kiss on the cheek from Macron.

But even as they touted what Trump called "a very special relationship," Macron repeatedly hinted at the issues dividing the two countries: the Iran nuclear deal, the environment and trade.

"It is together that we will be able to act effectively for our planet," Macron said in remarks at an opening ceremony. "I'm not just referring to climate, but also to the oceans, to biodiversity, and to all forms of pollutions. On this issue, we do not always agree as to the solutions, but in the end, such is the case in any family and in any friendship."

Macron's welcoming remarks were notably more specific than Trump's, which focused on the long 241-year friendship between the two countries — and his personal friendship with Macron, who has emerged as Trump's most trusted European ally over the past year.

More: President Trump after picking something off Macron's suit: 'We have to make him perfect'

"The wonderful friendship we have developed over the past year is a testimony to the historic friendship between our two nations," Trump said.

Trump and Macron met amid the protocol-laden pomp of a formal state visit, the first of Trump's presidency. Following Trump's visit to Paris for Bastille Day ceremonies last year, it's the second one-on-one summit between the two leaders, not counting four other meetings at other summits.

Despite the close relationship the two leaders have cultivated, Macron's visit underscored deep policy differences between Paris and Washington. Chief among those is the Iran nuclear agreement, which Trump has referred to as "the worst deal ever negotiated."

Trump made upending the Iran deal, which was negotiated by President Obama, a centerpiece of his presidential campaign. He did little to soften that position Tuesday.

"It's insane. It's ridiculous. It should have never been made," Trump said of the deal in the Oval Office as Macron sat at his side.

"But we will be talking about it."

Trump must decide next month whether to restore economic sanctions on Iran, effectively withdrawing from the multi-nation deal. The issue certain to come up again when German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits the White House later this week.

After meeting with Macron, Trump said the two had more substantive talks on Iran than any other issue.

Macron said he wants to pursue a new deal with Iran that would build on the existing agreement while also limiting Tehran's ballistic missile program and its influence in the Middle East.

Trump appeared to be skeptical of such an agreement.

"We'll see," he said, "whether or not it will be possible to do a new deal with solid foundations."

Trade also featured prominently on Macron's agenda. The French president has openly criticized Trump's protectionist moves in recent weeks and wants Washington to exempt European nations from U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs aimed mainly at China.

In an interview with Fox News Sunday, Macron warned Trump not to levy tariffs on European steel and aluminum. "You cannot make a trade war with your ally,” he said.

"When you look at the trade issue between our two countries, they are balanced," Macron said as he stood next to Trump at the White House. "There is no unbalanced relationship."

Macron began the three-day visit Monday with a less formal dinner at President George Washington's estate at Mount Vernon. The two will speak at a state dinner later Tuesday, followed by Macron's speech to a joint session of Congress Wednesday.

Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2HVCiAF </s> Washington’s new chief diplomat was to meet Saudi and Israeli leaders on Sunday to rally coordinated opposition to Tehran and brief them on President Donald Trump’s threat to end the Iran nuclear deal.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo touched down in Riyadh on Saturday shortly after Tehran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen fired missiles across the kingdom’s border.

US officials travelling with Pompeo told reporters the Huthi missiles had been supplied by Iran, and cited the attacks as evidence that regional powers should work together.

Pompeo had dinner with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, and on Sunday he was due to meet his father King Salman.

Then he was due to fly on to Jerusalem to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then on to Amman in Jordan, wrapping up a weekend of talks with some of Iran’s most fervent foes in the region.

Trump is due to decide on May 12 whether to reimpose nuclear-related sanctions on Tehran, putting in peril the landmark 2015 nuclear accord, which most world powers see as key to preventing Tehran from getting the bomb.

But Trump and America’s Middle East allies argue the deal, approved by Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama, was too weak and needs to be replaced with a more permanent arrangement and supplemented by controls on Iran’s missile program.

Pompeo set off on his first diplomatic trip within two hours of being sworn in on Thursday and on Friday — after talks with the NATO allies in Brussels — he appeared to suggest that Trump plans to nix the deal.

“Absent a substantial fix, absent overcoming the shortcomings, the flaws of the deal, he is unlikely to stay in that deal past this May,” Pompeo told reporters in at NATO headquarters.

Perhaps the last chance to fix these supposed shortcomings came from talks between Washington and its European allies Britain, France and Germany on a supplemental agreement to sanction Iran’s missile program.

But both President Emmanuel Macron of France and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel left Washington this week after talks with Trump having failed to secure any promise that he might keep the core deal alive.

That may be music to the ears of the Saudi and Israeli leaders, who both support a tougher line on Iran.

“This administration has made it a priority to address Iran’s missile programs,” a senior US official told reporters in Riyadh, condemning the latest Huthi volley of missiles, themselves in part a response to Saudi air strikes.

“Iran supplies the missiles that the Huthis fire into Saudi Arabia, threatening civilians,” he said. “Today alone the Saudis shot down four Huthi missiles, the latest in a string of such attacks.”

Earlier, a civil defense official had said that at least one Saudi had been killed by falling shrapnel as his government’s air defense batteries attempted to intercept the missiles near the Yemen border.

A Saudi-led coalition air strike overnight Friday to Saturday killed dozens of Yemeni rebels including two commanders, state media said.

Prince Salman and his father will welcome US solidarity against Iran — just as Israel will want to see greater US support for its efforts against Iranian influence in Syria and Lebanon — but Pompeo has come with requests too.

According to US officials, while Riyadh has a right to self-defense, it must come to see that the solution to Yemen’s civil war will be a political one and its forces must not exacerbate the massive humanitarian crisis there.

Washington also wants to see an end to the Gulf crisis that has seen Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates impose a diplomatic and trade embargo on fellow US regional ally Qatar.

And, perhaps most importantly for Trump, Pompeo will urge Saudi Arabia to provide personnel and funding to help US efforts to stabilize northeastern Syria in the wake of the expected defeat of the Islamic State group.

“The president has made clear that he wants to see meaningful participation from states in the region,” another senior US official travelling with Pompeo’s party said.

“We want to see the kind of participation, for financial efforts, not just kinetic efforts that would match, parallel, would assist, the US role,” he said. The United States has more than 2,000 troops in Syria.

On Qatar, the US officials said they do not blame one side or the other, but want Riyadh and Doha to sort out the stand-off themselves.

And on Yemen, they warned the Saudi-led coalition not to again block or bomb ports that supply vital civilian aid, warning that there is no military solution to the crisis.

“The humanitarian situation in this tragic country cannot be allowed to become worse. It needs to get better. And that means full and free access to humanitarian goods, to commercial goods, to fuel,” one said.

Pompeo will conclude his first diplomatic trip on Monday after talks with senior Jordanian officials and then fly back to Washington to move in to his office in the State Department. </s> Behind the pomp and circumstance of French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Washington starting Monday — including President Trump’s first state dinner for a fellow world leader since taking office — lies a calculated and hard-nosed campaign to position Paris as the White House’s best friend in Europe.

Much is riding on the visit by Mr. Macron, the banker and political neophyte who captured the French presidency last year, topped by the fate of the Iran nuclear deal that Mr. Trump is poised to kill next month and that Mr. Macron desperately hopes to save.

The three-day visit will be a high-profile test of Mr. Macron’s studied charm offensive with the unpredictable American president, weighing whether the young leader can parlay his personal rapport with Mr. Trump into White House moderation on issues such as the Iran deal and Washington’s new skepticism over such internationalist causes as climate change and free trade.

With German Chancellor Angela Merkel coming to Washington at the end of the week, European leaders will get their last best chance to persuade Mr. Trump to change his mind, or at least hold his fire as EU capitals try to devise new penalties for Tehran that could keep Washington in the deal.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, on a visit to New York, increased the pressure on Mr. Macron Sunday by saying Washington’s withdrawal from the pact would only further diminish the U.S. standing among its allies and adversaries alike.

Iran is ready to restart its nuclear program if the Trump administration leaves the 2015 nuclear agreement and reinstates sanctions, Mr. Zarif said.

“We have put a number of options for ourselves, and those options are ready, including options that would involve resuming at a much greater speed our nuclear activities,” he added.

Mr. Macron has unexpectedly emerged as one of the more moderate and accepting voices within the European Union concerning some of Mr. Trump’s unorthodox foreign policy stances.

The 40-year-old French president has repeatedly defended Mr. Trump’s credibility on the world stage from criticism on several fronts, including his immigration ban from several Muslim countries, claims that Washington is abandoning its role as defender of the postwar liberal order, and views that he is creating a vacuum that China and Russia are filling.

Other Western European leaders have struggled to get a read on Mr. Trump or even establish a personal working rapport, but the young English-speaking Mr. Macron has proved more deft.

“I am not going to judge what should be your president, or to consider that because of these controversies or because of these investigations your president is less credible,” Mr. Macron told The Associated Press, dismissing any attempt to be drawn into the fierce U.S. controversy over Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

But Mr. Macron will be under intense scrutiny back home to prove that his personal bonhomie with Mr. Trump translates into policy successes, starting with the May 12 deadline under which Mr. Trump must decide whether to stay in the multilateral Iran nuclear deal.

Although the visit will undoubtedly include all the trappings of a high-level diplomatic visit between two longtime allies, political observers in the U.S. and Europe will be keeping a keen eye on how the leaders interact over several issues on which they have found themselves at odds.

The two leaders are certain to discuss the impacts of Mr. Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, which France has championed but the Trump administration argues unnecessarily regulates American industries and international companies. Mr. Macron is also a champion of free trade, while Mr. Trump has questioned the North American Free Trade Agreement, killed an Asian trade deal and put in deep freeze a proposed free trade accord with the European Union.

But no topic will likely loom as large between the two leaders as Washington’s reported desire to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that the Obama administration strongly supported.

Mr. Trump and his national security team, led by newly installed National Security Adviser John R. Bolton, have repeatedly called for the dissolution of the nuclear deal despite the continuing support of other world powers, including Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.

If Mr. Trump effectively withdraws from the deal, the U.S. will reimpose sanctions that Iran says negate the main purpose of the accord.

Proponents of the pact, including Mr. Macron and Ms. Merkel, say there is no tangible proof that Tehran has failed to comply with the nonproliferation elements of the Iran deal, even if Iran continues to test other military systems and remains a destabilizing force for American allies across the Middle East.

More pointedly, Mr. Macron is expected to argue that the U.S. and its Western allies will have no good option to restrain Iran’s nuclear programs if Mr. Trump takes Washington out of the deal.

French officials warn there is “no plan B” if the Iran deal collapses. Mr. Macron himself asked on Fox News, “What do you have as an alternative?”

Iran’s Mr. Zarif said Sunday that the Bolton appointment showed Mr. Trump would rather overthrow the government in Tehran that negotiate with it.

The U.S. “never abandoned the idea of regime change in Iran,” he said, adding that some are just “more explicit about stating it.”

France, Germany, the United Kingdom and other key European allies say the deal is the best chance the West has to keep Iran from becoming a nuclear power, potentially threatening the U.S. and Israel with an atomic attack. A furious negotiation is underway to see if the Europeans can formulate a new set of sanctions and penalties for Tehran outside of the nuclear deal to persuade Washington to stay in it.

Mr. Macron, who treated Mr. Trump to an envy-inducing military parade and a dinner in the Eiffel Tower during his trip to Paris last year, has shown a talent for gestures that impress the billionaire former real estate developer.

The French president plans to present Mr. Trump with an oak tree sapling from the site of one of the first World War I battles involving American troops, the Battle of Belleau Wood, The Associated Press reported Sunday.

It’s a sign of appreciation for the sacrifices America has made for France — and a subtle nod to Mr. Macron’s environmental agenda.

He wants it planted in the White House gardens.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports. </s> May had phone calls with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel where they agreed the deal may need to be broadened to cover other areas such as ballistic missiles, what happens when the deal expires, and Iran's destabilising regional activity, the statement said.

"They committed to continue working closely together and with the U.S. on how to tackle the range of challenges that Iran poses – including those issues that a new deal might cover," the statement said.

This comes as a deadline looms next month for President Donald Trump to decide on whether to restore U.S. economic sanctions on Tehran.
Donald Trump meets with French president Emmanuel Macron to discuss the Iran nuclear deal along with economics and trading.