French President Emmanuel Macron said that the joint American-Israeli military strikes against Iran are “outside of international law.”
Addressing the French public in a national broadcast, President Macron said that while Iran “bears primary responsibility for this situation,” his government also disapproves of the strikes taken by the United States and Israel against the regime in Tehran.
“The United States of America and Israel have decided to launch military operations, conducted outside of international law, which we cannot approve,” Macron said, according to Le Figaro.
However, Macron said that “history never mourns the executioners of their people” and that those killed in the Islamist regime in Tehran will not be missed, in an apparent reference to the thousands of innocent Iranian civilians killed in recent anti-government protests.
The French president also warned against an Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon, saying that it would be “a dangerous escalation and a strategic mistake.”
Again, Macron also noted that it was a “major mistake” in the first place for Hezbollah to break the 2024 ceasefire on Sunday and strike Israel with rockets from Lebanon.
The denunciation from Macron comes in contrast to his counterpart in Berlin, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said on Monday that it is not the time to “lecture our partners and allies.”
During an Oval Office meeting on Tuesday with President Trump, Chancellor Merz added that Germany is on the “same page in terms of getting this terrible regime in Tehran away.”
However, the comments from Macron do not go as far as the opposition expressed from Madrid, with Socialist Prime Minsiter Pedro Sánchez saying that his government “rejects” the American-led strikes and has refused to allow U.S. forces to use Spanish military bases to attack targets in Iran.
President Trump has, in turn, threatened to impose an embargo on Spain, saying Tuesday that he has ordered his Treasury chief to look into cutting “off all trade” with the European nation.
Regardless of his rhetorical posturing, President Macron has stepped up France’s military posture, dispatching fighter jets to Cyprus and an aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean on Tuesday.
The French leader has also called for an international coalition to form to protect shipping lanes from Iranian aggression.
“We are taking the initiative to build a coalition to pool the resources, including military force, to resume and secure traffic in these waterways that are essential to the global economy,” he said.
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