Putin and Macron call for efforts to save Iran deal(Source AFP) Russian President Vladimir Putin and French leader Emmanuel Macron agreed Thursday on the need to “consolidate efforts” to save the Iran nuclear deal following months of soaring tensions, the Kremlin said. In a phone call, Putin and Macron agreed the Iran deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was an “important factor in ensuring security in the Middle East and maintaining a non-proliferation regime,” the Kremlin said in a statement. US President Donald Trump last year withdrew from the accord and imposed sweeping sanctions prohibiting Iranian oil exports in a bid to reduce the clerical regime’s regional clout. In Germany, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said “it would be a mistake to blame” Iran for the situation. He said it was very important to reach “a common position of all the remaining parties of the JCPOA   and we will not achieve a result if it is claimed that the safeguarding of this agreement depends solely on Iran”. His German counterpart Heiko Maas said that “we have always made it clear that we do not understand the exit of the United States from the JCPOA”.