France's foreign minister traveled to Iran on Monday to reaffirm Europe's commitment to the 2015 nuclear deal, but also to echo concerns raised by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has threatened to quit the agreement.
Jean-Yves Le Drian is expected to tell Iran it must address the West's misgivings about its ballistic missile program and military activities around the Middle East, points the White House says need attention if the nuclear pact is to survive.
"We're not going to be Donald Trump's envoys or Iran's defense lawyers," said a French diplomat. "We have our own concerns and will talk to the different sensibilities of the Iranian system to get our point across."
Trump has said European allies must help "fix" the nuclear deal before the May 12 deadline.
Le Drian said on Sunday that Iran needs to address concerns over its ballistic missile program or risk new sanctions. Iran immediately rejected France's concern over its missile program as "wrong," the semi-official Fars News agency said.
Hard-line media reacted angrily to Le Drian's remarks with headlines such as "Rude guest" and "Weapons of mass seduction land in Tehran," while highlighting Iran's determination to go ahead with its missile program.
Fars said a group of hard-liners gathered at Tehran's International Mehrabad Airport to protest Le Drian's visit.
The 2015 accord between Iran and France, Britain, Germany, Russia, China and the United States gave Iran relief from economic sanctions in return for curbs to its nuclear program, allowing Iran to talk trade with Europe for the first time in years.
However, despite being pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani's headline achievement, the deal has failed to bring the immediate economic benefits that many expected.
This has slowed down Rouhani's efforts to engage with the West, which are opposed by influential allies of Iran's top authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who remain uneasy about Iran's efforts to court its old enemies.
France has been quick to restore trade ties with Iran. Planemaker Airbus, oil giant Total and automobile manufacturers Peugeot and Renault have signed deals, all of which could be at risk if Trump exits the accord.
In an effort to keep him on board, French President Emmanuel Macron has criticized Iran's ballistics program and raised the possibility of new sanctions.
Ahead of his visit, Le Drian told Rouhani that France expects Iran to make a "constructive contribution" to solving crises in the Middle East, Macron's office said on Sunday.
Iran supports Syrian President Bashar Assad against the rebels in the Syrian civil war, including groups backed by the West, and backs Israel's enemy Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Rouhani and Macron spoke by phone on Sunday and agreed to work together in the coming days with the United Nations, the Syrian government and other countries involved to improve the situation for civilians and make a cease-fire effective, according to a French government statement.
France has urged the U.S. to see the nuclear deal separately from Iran's regional activities and its missile program, and Le Drian will stress Macron's commitment to the nuclear accord, especially as Iran is respecting its terms, French officials said.
Le Drian is due to meet Rouhani and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as well as officials close to Khamenei, including Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.
Khamenei said last week that Iran would keep supporting Assad's war effort, and a Foreign Ministry spokesman on Sunday rejected Macron's comments about Iran's missile program, insisting the country's "defensive missile work" would continue.
An official close to Rouhani said Iran "has always been open to talks and to resolve issues through diplomacy ... but this does not mean we will yield to unjust pressure over our inevitable rights, whether defensive or anything else."
While France says Iran is sticking to the terms of the nuclear deal, it may not be respecting part of U.N. Resolution 2231 that calls on it to refrain from work on ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads.
The resolution enshrines the nuclear deal, which itself makes no explicit reference to the ballistics program, but it is unclear whether the wording binds Iran to an obligatory commitment on missiles.
"On the ballistics, the Iranian program is not compatible with 2231 and we have a particular concern on the transfer of know-how of ballistic capacity to regional actors and by that we mean Hezbollah," the diplomatic source said.
Iran has repeatedly said its missile program is purely defensive and not in violation of the U.N. resolution.
A second French diplomat said, "While our concerns aren't directly linked to the nuclear deal, it's important we make progress on these other subjects because otherwise Trump risks killing the deal."
