PARIS, Sept 1, (Agencies): French President Emmanuel Macron has talked with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and urged Tehran to show restraint amid rising tensions in the region. Macron’s office said Saturday that the French leader asked Iran to “take necessary measures” to encourage negotiations in Yemen’s war and urged Iran to show “the greatest restraint in Lebanon so that nothing compromises stability in this moment of great tension.” The tense standoff between Israel and Iran around Lebanon has pushed the bitter adversaries closer toward open, armed conflict in recent weeks.

The office says Macron also pushed again for Iran to adhere to its nuclear agreement, after trying earlier to arrange a US-Iran meeting. Macron is trying to play mediator to save the 2015 UN accord curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions that US President Donald Trump rejects. Rouhani reaffirmed that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reached with the P5+1 in July, 2015, is unchangeable.

An Iranian oil tanker pursued by the US across the Mediterranean Sea slowed to a near-stop Sunday off the coast of Syria, where America’s top diplomat alleges it will be unloaded despite denials from Tehran. The ongoing saga of the Adrian Darya 1, formerly known as the Grace 1, comes as tensions remain high between the US and Iran over its unraveling nuclear deal with world powers.