Merkel, Macron, Putin discuss Iran situation

DUBAI, May 22 (AP): The German government says Chancellor Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron have discussed the situation in Iran in a joint telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Merkel's office said in a statement on Tuesday that the three leaders "underlined the need to persuade Iran to remain in the nuclear agreement, which they agreed to maintain."

US President Donald Trump last year pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that lifted economic sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbing of its nuclear program.

Iran recently announced that it has stepped up its uranium-enrichment production capacity but insisted the limit would remain far below what's needed for an atomic weapon.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says the United States will not defeat Iran with economic pressure.

In a live broadcast on state TV, Rouhani says: "The Iranian nation will not be defeated by America, the White House could not defeat the Iranian nation."

Rouhani referred to recently imposed sanctions by the U.S., which have made conditions for Iranians difficult, saying: "But at the end of the road, the victory is ours."

Rouhani called the US a "bully" for its measures against Iran.

Last year, the US withdrew from a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and re-imposed sanctions on Iran targeting the country's oil sector.

Former US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis says America "needs to engage more in the world and intervene militarily less."

Mattis, a retired Marine general, spoke on Monday night at a previously unannounced speech before a Ramadan lecture series in honor of Abu Dhabi's powerful crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

According to a report in the state-linked newspaper The National, Mattis stressed that "Iran's behavior must change." However, he stressed that unilateral action is not the way forward with Iran and that the "military must work to buy time for diplomats to work their magic."

Speaking about America in general, Mattis said: "America will frustrate you at times because of its form of government, but the UAE and America will always find their way back to common ground, on that I have no doubt."

Iran's president has told a group of clerics that he is seeking expanded, wartime executive powers to better deal with an "economic war" triggered by the Trump administration's pullout from the nuclear deal and escalating US sanctions.

Meanwhile, state-run Iraqi media is quoting Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi as saying that Baghdad will send delegations to the U.S. and Iran to help end tensions between the two countries.

Abdul-Mahdi, whose country has close ties to both Iran and the US, said on Tuesday that Iranian and US officials have informed Iraq that they have "no desire in fighting a war."

Abdul-Mahdi said Iraq is "playing a role to calm the situation but it is not a mediation." He said he will visit Kuwait on Wednesday to discuss regional issues.