THE TRUMP WHISPERER: Macron says he feels a kinship with Trump because they are both outsiders. “I think we have this very special relationship because both of us are probably maverick of the systems on both sides,” Macron said on Fox News Sunday. “I think President Trump’s election was unexpected in your country and probably my election wasn’t expected in my country. We are not part of the classical political system.”

ON SYRIA: Macron said in a television interview last week in France that he believed he had convinced Trump to stay in Syria for the long haul, which prompted the White House to push back and insist the president wants to bring U.S. home as soon as Islamic State fighters are defeated. “Mr. President, which is it?” Chris Wallace asked Macron on Fox.

“It’s not automatically U.S. forces, but that’s U.S. diplomacy and that’s your president,” Macron explained. “I will be very blunt. The day we will finish this war against ISIS, if we leave, definitely and totally, even from a political point of view, we will leave the floor to the Iranian regime, Bashar al-Assad and his guys, and they will prepare the new war. They will fuel the new terrorists.”

ON IRAN: Macron — and later this week German Chancellor Angela Merkel — will both be pressing Trump to stick with the Iran nuclear deal for now, arguing it’s better than nothing and withdrawing now will send the wrong message to North Korea. The president has set May 12 as the deadline to see if the U.S. can secure a supplemental agreement to tighten the provisions, a senior administration official told reporters yesterday.

On Fox, Macron said he will tell Trump that while the deal is not perfect, it should be kept in place. “What do you have as a better option? I don’t see it. What is the what-if scenario or your plan B? I don’t have any plan B for nuclear against Iran. So, that’s the question we will discuss.”

IRAN READY TO GO NUCLEAR: Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on CBS that if the U.S. pulls out of the agreement Iran is ready to exercise its options, which includes “resuming at much greater speed our nuclear activities.” Zarif insisted that did not mean Iran would produce nuclear weapons, something it has said was never its goal, even after the agreement would expire. “You don’t need even to read the entire 150 pages of the deal. Just read the first three lines, and it’s there. There is no sunset to the fact that Iran will never seek nuclear weapons.”

But Zarif insisted the biggest impact of U.S. withdrawal from the agreement is it would send a message to the world that America is an unreliable negotiating partner. “If the United States sends the message to the national community that the length or duration of any agreement would depend on duration of the presidency, that would mean people will at least think twice before they start negotiating with the United States, because negotiations involve give and take. And people will not be prepared to give if the take is only temporary.”

NORTH KOREA STRATEGY: Trump is defending his negotiating strategy from criticism that he’s already given Kim a tremendous propaganda victory with nothing but empty promises in return. “Funny how all of the Pundits that couldn’t come close to making a deal on North Korea are now all over the place telling me how to make a deal!,” Trump tweeted. “We are a long way from conclusion on North Korea, maybe things will work out, and maybe they won’t – only time will tell….But the work I am doing now should have been done a long time ago! “

After NBC’s “Meet the Press” aired, Trump tweeted, “Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd of Fake News NBC just stated that we have given up so much in our negotiations with North Korea, and they have given up nothing. Wow, we haven’t given up anything & they have agreed to denuclearization (so great for World), site closure, & no more testing!” For the record, Todd was actually reading something that former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer wrote, and North Korea has agreed to discuss denuclearization and for now says it won’t conduct any more tests.

On CBS, Sen. Tom Cotton said North Korea’s announcement it would halt nuclear and missile tests is “an easily reversible decision” but “better than” continuing with testing, but “not much better than that.”  But Cotton says Trump has put Kim on his back foot. “The fact that Kim requested this summit, the president accepted, I think to his surprise and moved so quickly, said he’s not going to ask for U.S. troops to be removed and now has made this announcement shows that he realizes that time and momentum is on the side of the United States and our allies.”

On CNN, Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, dismissed Kim’s charm offensive as PR. “This is a great public relations effort by Kim Jong Un. And I think people recognize that. I think everyone within the administration and Congress approaches this with skepticism and caution.”

The Wall Street Journal says Trump will insist that North Korea denuclearize first before any sanctions relief is given, so as not to repeat past mistakes. “That means the U.S. will not be making substantial concessions, such as lifting sanctions, until North Korea has substantially dismantled its nuclear programs,” a senior Trump administration official is quoted as saying. “If North Korea is willing to move quickly to denuclearize, then the sky is the limit. All sorts of good things can happen,” the official added.

During his confirmation hearing to be secretary of state this month, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said much the same thing regarding the failure of previous efforts including the 1994 framework agreement. “In each case America and the world really — [lifted] their sanctions too quickly. That is we didn’t have the verifiable irreversible deal that we hoped that we had. And in each case, the North Koreans walked away from that deal. It is the intention of the president and the administration to not do that this time.”

Good Monday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre), National Security Writer Travis J. Tritten (@travis_tritten) and Senior Editor David Brown (@dave_brown24). Email us here for tips, suggestions, calendar items and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter @dailyondefense.