Hollande slams Trump over Iran nuclear deal

SEOUL: Former French president Francois Hollande on Tuesday slammed Donald Trump’s hardline stance on the Iran nuclear deal -- which Paris helped to negotiate -- as a "double fault", warning the US president’s "unpredictability" threatened global stability.

Trump’s threat to ditch the landmark 2015 agreement, which saw Tehran dramatically scale back its nuclear ambitions in return for an end to punishing sanctions, has sparked a chorus of foreign support for the pact.

"Donald Trump’s decision not to certify the accord and to demand that Congress strengthen sanctions is, to my eyes, a double fault," Hollande told a conference in Seoul. The former leader’s first speech on international affairs since leaving the Elysee in May touched on global issues including climate change, economic protectionism and populist politics -- and laid into the "confusion" appearing to emanate from the White House.

The former French leader said the US president’s actions showed a "deep misunderstanding of the negotiation’s purpose", which was to "stop Iran from obtaining weapons, and not to make it change its politics".