Bahrain Mirror: French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday in Sofia that France's priority was to stabilize the Middle East rather than seek "trade interests" when it sought to maintain Iran's nuclear deal.

"We won't start a strategic trade war against the U.S. about Iran," he said during the European Union summit in Bulgaria's capital. "We're not going to take counter-sanctions against U.S. companies, it wouldn't make sense."

French energy group Total said on Wednesday it might quit a multi-billion-dollar gas project in Iran unless it secured a waiver from the sanctions.

"The French president is not the CEO of Total," Macron said. "My priority is not trade or finance in Iran. It's geopolitics, avoiding escalation, doing everything to open up Iran's economy and society."

Arabic Version