French President Emmanuel Macron | Pool photo by Koji Sasahara via EPA Macron urges Trump to be ‘coherent’ on Iran Ahead of a G20 summit in Japan, the French leader argues for the Iran nuclear agreement.

OSAKA, Japan — French President Emmanuel Macron accused Donald Trump of lacking "coherence" by cozying up to North Korea while talking tough on Iran.

Speaking in Japan on Thursday ahead of the G20 summit in Osaka, Macron rebuked the U.S. president for ditching the Iran nuclear agreement, which France, the EU and other international guarantors continue to support.

Macron said it made no sense for Trump to act tough with Iran, which does not have nuclear weapons, while building a friendly relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who has nuclear weapons and has fired test missiles.

But Macron also said France and the U.S. share the goal of nuclear nonproliferation and that he is hoping to convince Trump to renew negotiations with Iran.

"We have two cases: North Korea and Iran," Macron said.

Macron said he understands that Trump felt the JCPOA was not tough enough and that it did not address other concerns about Iran's actions.

"The paradox is that we see an international community, or some of them, that is becoming more tender with the one who already has nuclear weapons and who is threatening and harder with Iran, whose activity has already been controlled since 2015," Macron said. "Where is the coherence?"

There was no mistaking who in the international community was the target of the French president's remarks.

Trump recently ordered a retaliatory strike against Iran over the shooting down of an unmanned U.S. military drone, then abruptly called off his own order.

Trump's unilateral abandonment of the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), has led Iran to push back and threaten to abandon its own commitments. France, Germany, the U.K. and the EU have been working to find ways around the renewed U.S. sanctions against Iran, which the Europeans regard as illegal and unenforceable. However, the U.S. dominance in world financial markets has left many businesses too afraid to ignore Washington's demands.

"In Iran, we proved that they were making progress in improving their technology and that they were en route to acquiring nuclear weapons," Macron said in Japan. "We negotiated an agreement in 2015 that made it possible to stop, and this is quite effective. The international agency has shown it."

Repeated inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency had confirmed Iran's compliance, which the Europeans cited as a basis for maintaining their support for the JCPOA. "It had a useful effect," Macron said.

Macron said he understands that Trump felt the JCPOA was not tough enough and that it did not address other concerns about Iran's actions, including military meddling, throughout the Middle East.

"He wants it to go further. He criticizes the role of Iran in the region. So do we," Macron said. But Macron reiterated his own support for the JCPOA and handling Trump's concerns through other means.

"I have been saying this since the summer of 2017: We think we should keep the 2015 agreement," he said. "Complete it by providing a better framework for nuclear activity after 2015, to have a better supervision of Iran's ballistic activities, and have a strategic dialogue in the world."

"I want to convince Trump that it's in his interest is to reopen a window on the negotiation process" — Emmanuel Macron, French president

He said Trump's actions have left the JCPOA at risk of falling apart.

"The risk is that Iran will come out of the agreement," he said. "And that the international community can no longer monitor enrichment activities. Until we negotiate something else, we lose our security."

"And the second risk," Macron said, "is that the region catches fire."

"Many of us are trying to have a role as peacemakers and mediators," Macron added.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, in a rare foray into the thicket of international affairs, visited Iran earlier this month, hoping to help calm tensions and renew dialogue with the West.

Macron said he is still hoping to persuade Trump.

"I want to convince Trump that it's in his interest is to reopen a window on the negotiation process — maybe to reconsider some of the sanctions decisions, just for the time while we give the negotiations a chance," Macron said. "That we open a project and together we will define the paths on nuclear power. We have to talk about Syria and Yemen with Iran. And give yourself a few months."