Still, Macron and his allies also believed that, for once, they had a card in their dealings with Trump. The US needs Europe’s demining capability to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and stabilize the world oil trade after the war in Iran, something Trump has repeatedly claimed at the G7 meeting.
The second phase of the US-Iran talks, if the first agreement is signed on Friday, will deal with Iran’s nuclear program and will involve France, Germany and Britain, the original administrators of the 2015 UN sanctions against Iran.
The United States is also under intense pressure at home due to fears that the interim agreement with Iran will fall apart. “Trump needs our help. We have given him comfort,” the European official said.
Importantly, however, even Trump seemed satisfied with the French result, for now at least.
“I think President Macron … did a good job, by the way, he did a very good job,” he said.
Only when he left did Trump realize that there was something he had to bring up in the middle of the whole conversation with the French leader.
“We didn’t discuss Greenland. I should have discussed Greenland.”
