Emmanuel Macron urges Iran and US to show ‘courage of building peace’

French President Emmanuel Macron laid out what he says are the conditions for dialling back tensions with Iran, calling on the US and the Islamic Republic’s regional rivals to show “the courage of building peace”.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Macron said the recent attack on Saudi oil facilities – which France and its European partners on Monday blamed on Iran – had “changed the situation”.

He warned that “a small spark could set off a major conflict”.

Iran is putting “maximum pressure” on the region, Macron said, in a word play on Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions against Tehran.

Macron said solving the crisis with Iran requires “full certainty that Iran never has nuclear weapons”, a settlement of the war in Yemen, a security plan for the region that safeguards maritime flows and, finally, the lifting of US-led sanctions.