Merkel's US visit fails to win over Trump

IRAN DEAL "ONE PIECE" IN MOSAIC

Trump continued his rhetoric against Tehran and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deal reached in 2015 among China, Germany, Russia, the UK and US, the EU and Iran. His newly picked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in Brussels Friday that the US was unlikely to remain in the deal.

Trump vowed to ensure that Iran ends its missile production, "does not even get close to a nuclear weapon", or profit from the US "success" in the Middle East.

He also urged coalition and regional partners to step up their financial and military contributions to the US-led anti-Islamic State drive.

While acknowledging that the current deal is not sufficient, Merkel called it "a first step" that has contributed to the slowing of Iranian nuke activities. She called the current deal "one piece of the mosaic, one building block, if you like, on which we can build up this structure."

"The whole of the region, obviously, is of prime importance to us, because it's not a thousand kilometers away ... Syria and Iran are countries that are right on our doorstep," she added.

Christopher Galdieri, assistant professor at the U.S. Saint Anselm College, told Xinhua that the Trump-Merkel relations are "frosty" in part because "she sees him as dangerous and he sees her as part of the international order he (and many of those around him are) so critical of."

"Trump sees good relations with Macron as a counterweight to his poor ones with Merkel," he added.