Trump and Macron hint at 'new' deal with Iran

US President Donald Trump and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron called for a new deal with Iran on Tuesday, after the White House chief threatened to pull out of the deal.

The three year old agreement was designed to curb Iran's nuclear programme but has been declared "insane" and "ridiculous" by Trump.

His European allies have urged him not to pull out of the accord. Macron made a visit to the White House on Tuesday ahead of Trump's 12 May decision on whether he will grant Iran an extension to sanctions relief.

"I think we will have a great shot at doing a much bigger, maybe, deal," said Trump, stressing that any new accord would have to be built on "solid foundations."

"They should have made a deal that covered Yemen, that covered Syria, that covered other parts of the Middle East," said Trump.

Trump also declared that Iran was responsible for all the problems happening in the Middle East. "No matter where you go in the Middle East, you see the fingerprints of Iran behind problems."

Macron had previously said that he was unaware whether Trump would walk away or not from the nuclear deal ahead of the 12 May decision deadline.

"I can say that we have had very frank discussions on that, just the two of us," Macron told a joint press conference with Trump at his side.

While Macron said he wished "for now to work on a new deal with Iran", Trump, however, continued his hesitation.

"This is a deal with decayed foundations. It's a bad deal, it's a bad structure. It's falling down," the US leader said. "We're going to see what happens on the 12th."

Trump is demanding changes to the deal that European capitals believe would represent a legal breach.

France and other European nations are battling to save the complex nuclear deal with Iran, which Trump will scuttle if he refuses to waive sanctions against Tehran by the deadline.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to make a similar pitch when she visits Washington on Friday.

About 500 lawmakers from Germany, France and the UK urged the US Congress last week to support the Iran nuclear deal.

EU foreign ministers discussed ways to ensure the US would not pull out of the nuclear deal, but stopped short of agreeing to new sanctions on Tehran.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned on Tuesday there would be "severe consequences" if Washington pulls out of the 2015 nuclear deal.

"I am telling those in the White House that if they do not live up to their commitments, the Iranian government will firmly react," Rouhani said, speaking before thousands gathered in the northwestern city of Tabriz.  

"If anyone betrays the deal, they should know that they would face severe consequences," he added. "Iran is prepared for all possible situations".

Trump dismissed the warning saying, "They're not going to be restarting anything. If they restart it, they're going to have big problems, bigger than they ever had before. And you can mark it down,"

Earlier this month, US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said that the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had "looked at the Iran deal, he's seen what he can get and he's seen how he can push through loopholes and we're not going to let that happen again".

Despite the simmering tensions between Trump and the European officials, the US president offered an awkward sign of intimacy.

At the photo opportunity, President Trump made a show of flicking dandruff off Macron’s suit collar, saying the leader was "perfect" and the gesture a sign of the two leaders' "very special relationship".

Observers are sceptical whether Macron can translate the privileged relationship into concrete results.