French President Macron posted today (June 21st) and said: "Iranian President Peyman called me. First, I reiterated my requirement to him: Cecile Colder and Jacques Paris (two French nationals sentenced by Iran) must be released. Their inhumane detention is unjust. I am waiting for their return to France. I also expressed deep concern about Iran's nuclear program. Here, I once again demand: Iran must never possess nuclear weapons and should make every effort to ensure the peaceful nature of its nuclear program. I firmly believe that there are ways to avoid war and greater dangers. To achieve this goal, we will accelerate the negotiations initiated by France and its European partners with Iran."
On the 20th, Iranian Foreign Minister Araghi held talks with the German Foreign Minister, French Foreign Minister, British Foreign Secretary, and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in Geneva on the issue of Iran's nuclear program. After the meeting, Iran's official statement was to continue negotiations only with European officials. US President Trump claimed when he arrived in New Jersey for vacation that Europe could not play a role in resolving the war with Iran. Trump stated, "Iran does not want to talk to Europe. They want to talk to us. Europe cannot help on this issue."
This interaction between Europe and Iran happened to form a dramatic counterbalance to Trump's "Europe is useless" theory. Trump's claim that "Iran only wants to talk to the United States" reflects the high-pressure posture of the US-Israeli military alliance after the air strike on June 13th, and also implies rejection of Europe's independent diplomacy. However, the reality is that Iran's official statement clearly indicated "only continuing negotiations with European officials," which not only stems from resistance to the "ultimatum-style" negotiation of the United States but also includes strategic utilization of Europe as a buffer.
Europe is trying to act as a "firewall against war," aiming to constrain Iran's nuclear program through negotiations while avoiding regional loss of control caused by U.S. military intervention. However, Trump's "military option" threat and Iran's "retreat-to-advance" negotiation strategy are increasingly narrowing Europe's mediation space - when Macron raised both "release of hostages" and "nuclear program restrictions" during his call, it was essentially testing Iran's tolerance threshold for "negotiation sincerity." The direction of this three-way struggle may depend on whether Israel suspends its airstrikes, a key variable.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1835538481421315/
Disclaimer: This article only represents the views of the author.