WarSclerotic

France was the deciding factor in the decision not sign to sign a nuclear deal with Iran in Geneva, French Ambassador to Israel Patrick Maisonnave told reporters on Wednesday.

Speaking outside the French Embassy in Tel Aviv, Maisonnave said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius toughened his stance and the U.S. fell in line.

“There is no disagreement between France and the U.S. regarding the ultimate goal,” Maisonnave said. “But during the negotiations in Geneva we demanded guarantees. The U.S. secretary of state took the French points and they became American points and later, the position of all those who participated.”

Maisonnave’s statement contrast the message relayed by American officials to reporters in Jerusalem, who claimed that all sides proposed new points to Iran and that the French delegation was not the one that led the move.

“We have always been on the Israeli side when it comes to Iran or Israel’s security,” Maisonnave said. “After the talks in Geneva I got the impression Israel wants to thank us for our efforts. Relations between Israel and France have known their ups and downs, but France has always been a country that Israel knew it could lean on and France would be true to it.”

Maisonnave’s meeting with the press came ahead of French President Francois Hollande’s scheduled arrival to Israel on Sunday, also the day of the second round of talks in Geneva.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to fly to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett flew to the U.S. on Wednesday to meet with U.S. officials to discuss trade and Iran.

Meanwhile, disagreements over talks with Iran continue to make headlines in the U.S. In an op-ed titled “What about US,” New York Times top columnist Thomas Friedman called on the U.S. differentiate between its own interests and Israel’s.

“We, America, are not just hired lawyers negotiating a deal for Israel and the Sunni Gulf Arabs, which they alone get the final say on. We, America, have our own interests in not only seeing Iran’s nuclear weapons capability curtailed, but in ending the 34-year-old Iran-U.S. cold war, which has harmed our interests and those of our Israeli and Arab friends,” Friedman wrote.

Friedman called on the U.S. not to hesitate when it comes to “asserting our [U.S.] interests in the face of Israeli and Arab efforts to block a deal that we think would be good for us and them. America’s interests today lie in an airtight interim nuclear deal with Iran that also opens the way for addressing a whole set of other issues between Washington and Tehran,” he said.

Friedman cited Iran’s influence on Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestinian-Israeli relations, as good reasons to negotiate over. “Whereas tension with Iran has served to exacerbate these issues, detente with Tehran could help ameliorate them,” he said.