Trump: 'Iran failing as a nation' after US sanctions

Iran is failing as a nation after Washington imposed powerful sanctions last year, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday, adding that things could change rapidly in talks with the leadership in Tehran. "When I became president, Iran was a true state of terror. They still are and were undisputed champions of terror," Trump told reporters before holding bilateral talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Caen, western France. "They are failing as a nation, but I don't want them to fail as a nation. We can turn that around very quickly but the sanctions have been extraordinary [in] how powerful they have been." Macron and Trump both stressed they do not want Iran to obtain nuclear weapons. Macron said the sides also want to reduce Iran's ballistic missile programme, "contain" Tehran's regional activity in the Middle East and achieve peace in the region.