French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday called for the Iran nuclear deal to be expanded to include measures to restrict ballistic missile development and to prolong its controls on uranium enrichment.

"We have to keep the 2015 agreement because it was a good one with strong monitoring of the current situation, and and we have to add two or three pillars," Macron told reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Macron said these measures should include "one to better control ballistic missiles and ballistic activities" and another to prolong the agreement beyond 2025, when limits on Iran's nuclear enrichment will start to expire.

A possible third pillar would involve "open discussions with Iran about the current situation in the region."

The measures described by Macron cover key demands by US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to declare Iran in breach of the 2015 agreement and to impose new American sanctions on the Tehran government.

Washington's European partners continue to support the accord, which they think is the best and only way to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and it was not immediately clear if Macron's idea would appease Trump.

"But it would be a mistake to abandon the agreement without anything else," Macron said.

source: AFP