US President Donald Trump and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron jointly called for a new nuclear deal with Iran, after the US leader denounced the three-year-old accord as “insane.”

“I can say that we have had very frank discussions on that, just the two of us,” Macron told a joint press conference with Trump at his side. “We, therefore, wish from now on to work on a new deal with Iran.”

The French president said a new deal would have to include three additional elements: Tehran’s ballistic missile program, its influence across the Middle East, and what happens after 2025 — when under the current accord Iran would be able to progressively restart part of its nuclear program.

Trump on Tuesday warned that Iran will have “bigger problems” if it restarts its nuclear programme.

Meeting with visiting French President the White House, Trump said “it won’t be so easy for them to restart” the programme.

“They’re not going to be restarting anything. If they restart it, they’re going to have big problems, bigger than they ever had before,” he said, Xinhua reported.

When asked whether he would be willing to stay in the Iran deal, also known as JCPOA, Trump said the deal was “insane,” “ridiculous” and “should never have been made.”

European allies of United States have repeatedly tried to persuade Trump not to walk away from the 2015 deal, which gave Iran massive sanctions relief and the guarantee of a civilian nuclear program in return for curbs on programs that could be used to develop an atomic weapon.

It did not tackle western complaints about Iran’s ballistic missile programs or support for militant groups across the Middle East.

Trump faces a May 12 deadline to decide on its fate and is demanding changes that many in European capitals believe would represent a legal breach.

The JCPOA, short for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, is an international agreement reached on July 14, 2015 between Iran and six world major countries, namely China, France, Russia, Britain, the United States and Germany, plus the European Union.

The West pledged to relieve sanctions on Iran in exchange for a halt in Tehran’s efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.

(With inputs from agencies)