Iran invited Gulf countries Tuesday to open talks on regional security, telling the United Nations it was time to move away from "hegemonic illusions" that have fueled devastating wars.

Addressing a UN meeting on sustaining peace, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif proposed the creation of a "regional dialogue forum."

"We here invite our neighbors in this volatile waterway, which has seen too many wars, to join us in this endeavor," Zarif added.

The initiative came as US President Donald Trump met his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Washington to discuss shared concerns about Iran's behavior in the region.

Trump is threatening to scrap the 2015 nuclear deal reached with Iran unless concerns about Tehran's missile program and military role in Syria, Yemen and Lebanon are addressed.

"All over, no matter where you go in the Middle East, you see fingerprints of Iran," Trump told a news conference with Macron in Washington.

In a UN General Assembly speech, Zarif said "advancing hegemonic illusions or attempting to achieve security at the expense of the insecurity of others" had caused conflict, in an apparent reference to arch-rival Saudi Arabia.

The foreign minister said it was crucial to "now shift to a new paradigm based on combining our forces... instead of any one of us seeking to be the strongest in our region."

He suggested creating new security networks to replace what he termed as "security blocs."

Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, supports Hezbollah militias in Lebanon and backs Yemen's Huthi rebels, who are locked in a war with a Saudi-led coalition.

The United Nations is pushing for political talks to end the war in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country that has been brought to its knees in the three-year conflict.

UN diplomats say Iran has signaled it is ready to put pressure on the Huthis to go to the negotiating table, in what some see as a sign that Tehran wants to confront US complaints about its behavior.

Zarif met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has held recent meetings with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to press for an end to the war in Yemen.

On the sidelines of the UN meeting, Zarif also held talks with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas to discuss the fate of the Iran nuclear deal as Chancellor Angela Merkel prepares for her White House visit on Friday.

Russia, China call on UN nuclear forum to save Iran deal
Geneva (AFP) April 24, 2018 - Russia on Tuesday urged a United Nations nuclear disarmament forum to show its support for the "fragile" Iran nuclear accord by signing onto a statement, co-written by China, backing the deal.

The head of the arms control unit at Russia's foreign ministry, Vladimir Yermakov, called on UN members to not "keep silence in hope that the situation will somehow blow over".

Addressing the preliminary review meeting of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Yermakov described the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear agreement as "quite a fragile compromise".

US President Donald Trump has fiercely criticised the complex deal and has threatened to ditch it completely if the signatories do not sign up to tougher measures against Iran.

The president is supposed to waive US sanctions against Tehran by a May 12 deadline to keep the agreement alive but if he refuses to do so, it may unravel.

Russia and China, both supporters of the pact known as the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan (JCPOA), drafted a statement affirming their "unwavering support for the comprehensive and effective implementation" of the deal.

Yermakov urged all nations at the UN nuclear meeting to sign on.

"We believe there is a demand for such a collective message by the (meeting) and hope that the document will find broad support," he said.

The Russian official then took a thinly veiled shot at Trump's call to renegotiate the JCPOA in hopes of securing tougher terms.

"Any attempts to amend (the) text for someone's benefit will inevitably... have powerful negative consequences for regional global stability and security," Yermakov said.

- No renegotiation -

In his own speech to the forum, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency Reza Najafi took on Trump directly, rejecting what he described as Washington's "ultimatum to certain JCPOA participants for one-sided alterations of the deal's provisions".

"Our response to that threat is clear and firm: No, the JCPOA will not be renegotiated or altered," Najafi said, echoing a stance adopted by Tehran after Trump first raised the prospects of re-visiting a pact negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama.

The joint Russia-China text was introduced at the UN meeting after Moscow's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov vowed in Beijing Monday that China and Russia would block any attempts to "sabotage" the Iran nuclear agreement.

During a first day of discussions on the NPT in Geneva Monday, a long line of speakers had voiced their support for the Iran deal, including the UN's top representative for disarmament affairs Izumi Nakamitsu.

European leaders are also scrambling to the save the deal.

French President Emmanuel Macron is in Washington this week lobbying Trump to preserve the pact, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel due in the US capital on Friday.

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Can Macron's White House visit save the Iran deal?
Washington (AFP) April 22, 2018
French President Emmanuel Macron seems, as much as any world leader, to have developed some kind of rapport with his American counterpart Donald Trump. But will their apparent bond prove productive as European capitals struggle to save the Iran nuclear deal from Trump's impulsive wrath? The idea will be tested Monday when the young French leader begins a state visit in Washington, and European diplomats have a lot invested in what seems a tricky task. There is not much time. Trump is due to ... read more