During the second Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership in the Jordanian capital of Amman, France and regional parties urged Iraq to break away from the Iranian axis to resolve the numerous challenges plaguing the Middle East, according to Al-Awsat news.

After the first session held in the Jordanian capital, French President Emmanuel Macron called on Iraq to follow another path far from “a model dictated from abroad,” in reference to Iran.

Macron added that “Iraq is a scene of influences, intrusions, and destabilization related to the entire region” but omitted to mention Iran, whose foreign minister is present at the conference.

Meanwhile, Jordan’s King Abdullah II stated in his speech that “the challenges facing us are many and are becoming more complex, but we also believe that this conference is being held to serve our common interests, to ensure Iraq’s security, prosperity, and stability are a cornerstone of our region.”

For his part, Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia’ al-Sudani stated that “Iraq adheres to building close and balanced relations of cooperation with all regional and international partners, distances itself from the alignment of axes and the atmosphere of escalation, and implements the policy of calm and reducing tensions.”

Ahead of the conference’s start, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani held a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and nuclear talks coordinator Enrique Mora to discuss the dormant process to revive the Iran nuclear deal.

Following the meeting, Borrell tweeted that he urged the Iranian diplomats to “immediately halt military support for Russia and internal repression.”

Amir-Abdollahian also voiced readiness to resolve any misunderstanding in direct negotiations with Ukraine and called on the remaining JCPOA signatories to avoid politicizing the talks further and to adopt a “constructive and realistic approach to make necessary decisions for an agreement.”

Talks to restore the 2015 nuclear deal have been at a stalemate since September when anti-government protests took hold in Iran. At the time, western nations accused the Islamic Republic of raising “unreasonable demands” in relation to a UN investigation into Iranian nuclear sites.