French President Francois Hollande has called on Iran for help in the Syrian conflict during a Bastille Day speech in which he praised a landmark Iranian nuclear agreement. Hollande said the deal shows the “world is moving forward” and that “Iran must show that it is ready to help us end the (Syrian) conflict.”

French President Francois Hollande has called on Iran for help in the Syrian conflict during a Bastille Day speech in which he praised a landmark Iranian nuclear agreement.

Hollande said the deal shows the “world is moving forward” and that “Iran must show that it is ready to help us end the (Syrian) conflict.”

But Hollande also said that world powers must carefully watch how Iran uses the billions of dollars in relief from international sanctions it gets in exchange for curbing its nuclear program.

“Now Iran has a bigger financial capacity, we need to be extremely vigilant on what Iran will be,” Hollande added in the televised speech.

Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told newspaper Le Monde that the Iran deal was “sufficiently robust” to last 10 years.

In the US,Democrats in the Congress are expressing skepticism about the deal that President Barack Obama and Western powers reached with Iran.

Shortly after announcement of the agreement Tuesday, members of Obama’s party cautiously congratulated his effort but said they would review the deal closely in coming weeks.

Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said he would examine the deal to ensure it “adequately protects the interests” of the United States and its allies.

Congress is likely to vote in September on whether to approve or disapprove the deal, though Obama has extensive executive powers to end sanctions on Iran.

Republicans vehemently criticized the deal, as was widely expected. Speaker John Boehner said Obama had abandoned his own goals and the deal would likely fuel a nuclear arms race around the world.

http://www.neurope.eu/article/after-nuclear-deal-hollande-calls-on-iran-to-help-in-syrian-conflict/