Gérard Araud on Power in Washington D.C.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: So, let me ask you about your own president and the U.S. president, because what we saw was an example of your young president going to meet the 72-year-old U.S. president who was very clear in his policies of America first, which may have — many have said is America alone, and we all saw the state visit and we’re watching right now, pictures of the — you know, a lot of sort of bromance as it was at the time. And your president was hoping at that time that he could persuade through flattery and, I don’t know, and camaraderie, President Trump not to pull out of the Iran deal. So, couple of days after your president left this White House, the president of the United States pulled out of the Iran deal. Tell me about what happened behind closed doors.

GÉRARD ARAUD, FORMER FRENCH AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: Well, first, I think this idea of bromance was — didn’t make any sense. Simply, President Macron being elected as any French president, you know, wanted to have a good relationship with the most powerful man on earth, which means the American president. And so, it was totally normal.

The fact here is that the men disagree on most of the issues so they have defined what I would call gentleman’s disagreements. With the example of the Iran deal, when, in April, when President Macron was in Washington, D.C., President Trump told him, “I am going to withdraw from the Iran deal.” And President Macron, of course, tried to — not to convince him not to withdraw from the Iran deal, because there is something very quickly that you understand that when President Trump has made a decision, it’s lost time to try to change his mind.

So, basically, what President Macron tried to do was to say, “Let’s open a global negotiation with Iran on all the issues which are on the table, not only the nuclear issue but also missiles, terrorist activities, regional activities of Iran.” President Trump said, “Yes, why not,” but nothing came out of that.

AMANPOUR: And do you think there was a possibility? I mean, what was your assessment of whether you could have had your cake and eaten it too rather than pulling out of the nuclear deal?

ARAUD: First, I was full of admiration for the energy and the creativity of my president, but I knew also that for domestic reasons and also because President Trump has said it repeatedly during the electoral campaign that he will withdraw from the nuclear deal and that he will impose very stringent sanctions on Iran.