NEW YORK: French President Emmanuel Macron held out hope of a breakthrough in the dispute between Iran and the United States as world leaders gathered Monday in New York for the UN General Assembly.
But Macron admitted that the attack -- widely blamed on Iran -- that hit a Saudi oil complex on September 14 had heightened instability in the Middle East.
"Did the chances of a meeting increase with these strikes? No, we have to be clear, we can see that things are getting tense," he told reporters late Sunday on his flight to New York.
"The two main players are there," he said, referring to the presence of the US and Iranian leaders at the United Nations this week. "But something can happen."
Macron is expected to hold meetings with US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in the coming days.
But a meeting between Trump and Rouhani appeared unlikely.
Tehran and Washington have been at loggerheads since last year when Trump abandoned a 2015 nuclear deal and began reimposing sanctions on Iran in a stated campaign of "maximum pressure."
"If the US is ready to end sanctions and come back to the conditions of the nuclear agreement, the way would be open for us to make a decision," Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said on Monday.
"One of these decisions could be negotiations."
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Britain has concluded Iran was responsible for attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, and the UK will consider taking part in a US-led military effort to bolster the Gulf kingdom’s defenses.
But Johnson also says the UK will work with allies to “de-escalate” Mideast tensions.
The Conservative prime minister told reporters that Britain “is attributing responsibility with a very high degree of probability to Iran” for the Sept. 14 attack by drones and cruise missiles.
Saudi Arabia and the US also blame Iran.
The Pentagon announced Friday it will send additional US troops and missile defense equipment to the region. Johnson said, if asked, the UK would “consider in what way we could be useful.”
