France will fall in line if US decides to strike a deal with Iran

Despite the France’s recent moves to conduct an independent line of diplomacy towards Iran, Washington has Paris on a “short leash” and any decision will be dictated by the United States, believes University of Tehran Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi.

RT:France is widely accused of blocking the progress in the latest round of talks - what are France's intentions?

Seyed Mohammad Marandi: Well there are different interpretations here in Tehran. Some believe that the French are in coordination with the United States and it is a sort of good-cop, bad cop-combination. Some believe that the current French government is very close both to Israel and the Saudi regime and that they have a great deal of influence. But it is very difficult to imagine under any circumstances, the French really standing up to the United States. It seemed that when the US wanted to bomb Syria, the US government has the French president on a leash, so it is hard to imagine that he would move away from US, even when the United States caught spying on European leaders, the Europeans really haven’t done anything about it. So at the end of the day if the US is really adamant that the deal should be struck, I think the French will fall in line.

RT:What do you make of the efforts to placate Israel, who are reacting negatively to any potential deal?

SM: The Israeli regime, as people across the region have been saying for decades, has especially more over the recent years been working against the interest of the United States and European powers. And Israel has imposed policies on the United States that have really damaged the standing of the US and it has hurt it in this region very specifically. The Israelis basically don’t want Iran to have a nuclear program, they probably don’t want Iran even to exist, but at the end of the day the Iranians have said that they will not accept anything at the end of the negotiation, less than the full rights within the framework of NPT. In fact that President Rouhani, just today has made it very clear that the Iranians will definitely demand full rights with the framework of international law and the regulations of IAEA. And the current Iranian flexibility is basically in order to create a more positive atmosphere to create trust so the process of rapprochement can move forward. But he said that Iranians will not under any circumstances halt enrichment of uranium for peaceful purposes and the end game must result in the complete removal of sanctions and acceptance of all Iran’s nuclear rights. And at the end of the day, Iran too under such circumstance will help dispel any questions that exist regarding the nuclear program.