US, France meet, but say patching up will take time
NEW YORK: The top diplomats of France and the United States said on Thursday that repairing ties will take time as Paris demanded action to assuage its anger over the cancellation of a submarine contract.
French foreign minister Jeanyves Le Drian, after days of giving the cold shoulder, met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) with US secretary of state Antony Blinken on the allies’ worst crisis in ties since the Iraq war.
France’s top diplomat told Blinken that US President Joe Biden’s conversation with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron was the start of a process of repairing trust. “He recalled that a first step had been taken with the call between the two presidents, but underlined that resolving the crisis between our two countries would take time and require actions,” a French foreign ministry statement said. France was infuriated when Australia last week cancelled a multibillion-dollar contract for French submarines, deciding instead that it needed US nuclear versions amid rising tensions with China.
Le Drian accused Australia of back-stabbing and the United States of betrayal, calling the move reminiscent of the unilateralist attitude of Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump.
Blinken vowed to work to rebuild trust with France, America’s oldest ally, and pointed to shared interests including in the French campaign against the Islamic State extremist group.
“I am convinced that our interests together are so strong, the values that we share so unshakable, that we will carry forward and get some good work done, but it will take some time; it will take some hard work,” Blinken told reporters.
Blinken said he would keep up talks with Le Drian. Le Drian, however, maintained his frigid distance from his counterparts from Australia and Britain.
Israeli actions could lead to ‘one state’, rues Abbas Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has accused Israel of jeopardising the two-state solution with actions he said could lead Palestinians to demand equal rights within one binational state comprising Israel, the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
Addressing the UN General Assembly via video link from the West Bank, Abbas said, “If the Israeli occupation authorities continue to entrench the reality of one apartheid state as is happening today, our Palestinian people and the entire world will not tolerate such a situation.”
Israel rejects accusations of apartheid.
Iran says nuclear talks soon, gives no date yet Iran will return to talks on resuming compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal “very soon”, foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told reporters on Friday, but gave no specific date.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will return to the table of negotiations. We are reviewing the Vienna negotiations files currently and, very soon, Iran’s negotiations with the ‘four plus one’ countries will recommence,” Amirabdollahian said.