Macron slams hostile attitudes towards Iran

French President Emmanuel Macron blasted Donald Trump for bringing the US closer to war with his hostile attitude towards Iran.

The French president called for the international community to maintain a “permanent” dialogue with Iran, as he hit out at the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, express.co.uk reported.

He said: “The official line pursued by those denouncing the Iran nuclear deal, namely the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, who are our allies in many ways, is one which is paving the way for war in Iran.”

The line being taken is a “deliberate strategy” for some, he said, adding that France was committed to maintaining balance in the region.

He indirectly warned the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia against shutting down all dialogue with Iran during his New Year’s address to the press.

What we need is a regional strategy which consists in finding ways to limit Iran’s role in the region, Macron said.

He also said he would visit Iran as planned if there was a “return to calm”, and if the government made good on its promise to respect fundamental rights and freedoms.

He appeared to distance himself from Donald Trump’s encouragement of protesters who began taking to the streets of Iranian towns and cities a week ago, and from the notion that a foreign hand is behind the action – as Iran has said.

Trump tweeted on Wednesday, “You will see great support from the United States at the appropriate time!”

The French president said that in no country can a “durable, stable situation be thought up in an office in Paris, Brussels or Washington. It must take place within the country, at the heart of civil society.”

The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, Gholam Ali Khoshroo, contended in a letter on Wednesday that Washington was intervening “in a grotesque way in Iran’s internal affairs.” He said Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were personally stirring up trouble.

On Thursday, Iran’s Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri directly named a CIA official as the “main designer” of the protests.

Iran has been rocked by a week of violent protests that began over the country’s economic hardships but then degenerated into violent melee by certain elements who were armed at times, running amok in a few towns. At least 21 people have been killed and hundreds more injured in the unrest.

Earlier this week, Iran’s Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei accused Iran’s enemies of stoking the protests, saying that those opposed to the country had “used different tools including cash, weapons, politics and intelligence apparatus to create troubles for the Islamic Republic”.

US president Donald Trump has been the most vocal supporter of Iran’s anti-government protesters.

Trump has also repeatedly threatened to decertify the landmark international deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program, a move which could cause the 2015 accord to unravel and that has been bitterly criticized by other signatories, including France.

In addition, the US leader, who has branded the pact an “embarrassment” and the “worst deal ever”, must decide by mid-January whether to continue waiving US sanctions on Tehran’s oil exports under the terms of the deal.

The waivers were included in the 2015 pact with Iran that eased economic pressure on the country in exchange for limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities.

Experts, however, have warned that reimposing oil sanctions on Iran could lead to the collapse of the deal.