Macron To Host Iran Top Diplomat For Nuclear Talks Friday: France

President Emmanuel Macron will on Friday hold talks on Iran's contested nuclear programme with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the French presidency said, in a rare encounter between a Western head of state and a senior Iranian official

PARIS, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Aug, 2019 ) :President Emmanuel Macron will on Friday hold talks on Iran's contested nuclear programme with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the French presidency said, in a rare encounter between a Western head of state and a senior Iranian official.

Macron will meet Zarif just one day before France chairs a three-day summit of leaders of Group of Seven (G7) countries, including President Donald Trump, in the southern resort of Biarritz.

Zarif, who has been on a tour of Scandinavia, had earlier this week said he planned to hold talks in Paris.

The discussions between Zarif and Macron will come at a critical time for relations between Tehran and the West as Iran ramps up its nuclear programme in response to Trump's decision to pull out of the 2015 deal over its atomic drive.

Zarif's talks in Paris may also see the case raised of French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah who was detained in Iran earlier this year and is one of many Western-Iranian dual nationals to be held behind bars there.