There are just 18 days left until Washington’s May 12 deadline for the United States and the European Union to reach an agreement about how to counter Iran’s regional activity and whether to tighten the straitjacket on its nuclear program. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has spent much of the last week in the United States on a media blitz, trying to push back against the United States, while French President Emmanuel Macron had Iran at the top of his agenda during his April 24 meeting with Trump. During the meeting, Macron presented the possibility of a new deal to complement -- not replace -- the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). He outlined four main concerns to address when countering Iran, which included the JCPOA’s short-term concerns but also long-term concerns about Iran’s nuclear program, its ballistic missile program and its regional...
