TEHRAN -- France’s President Emmanuel Macron held a phone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Ibrahim Raisi which lasted 90 minutes, head of Iran’s Presidential Office for Political Affairs Muhammad Jamshidi said on Saturday.
They discussed how to promote relations, especially regarding ongoing negotiations and regional developments, and agreed on a “roadmap for engagement”, he said.
The important conversation comes after reports that Brett McGurk, who is U.S. President Joe Biden’s senior Middle East adviser, went to Oman to discuss developments regarding Iran.
The length of the conversation raised eyebrows in the West amid reports of a Washington’s possible return to the 2015 nuclear deal by removing sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
According to Jamshidi, the French president made it clear that he sought interaction with the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The two presidents talked about promotion of relations between Iran and France, negotiations on the removal of anti-Iran sanctions, regional developments, and ways to continue interaction.
Raisi has already stressed his administration’s push to remove sanctions on Iran, stressing that Tehran would never bow out of negotiations to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The president, however, has made it clear that his administration will not tie the country’s future to the fate of the JCPOA.