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CAPTION: French President Emmanuel Macron attends a tribute ceremony to veterans of the Algerian War in Paris on October 18, 2022. File photo: AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran’s attacks on French interests in the region are “unacceptable,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday, reaffirming that Paris’ military efforts in the region are “strictly defensive” and urging Tehran to put an “immediate end” to its attacks on regional countries.
In a statement on X, Macron said he called on Pezeshkian to “put an immediate end to the unacceptable attacks Iran is carrying out against countries in the region, whether directly or through proxies, including in Lebanon and Iraq.”
The French leader added that “the unchecked escalation we are witnessing is plunging the entire region into chaos, with major consequences today and for the years to come,” underlining that “the people of Iran, like those across the region, are paying the price.”
The US and Israel on February 28 launched a joint campaign against Iran, with the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announcing in its latest tally on Thursday that the operation, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, had targeted more than 6,000 sites across Iran since its start. CENTCOM reiterated that the campaign’s objective is to dismantle Iran’s security structure.
For its part, Iran said last week that it had launched more than 2,000 drones and over 600 missiles targeting US and Israeli positions as part of its multi-front response, titled Operation True Promise 4.
The Iranian response has also involved strikes by groups aligned with the Tehran-led ‘Axis of Resistance,’ including the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, which earlier in March carried out an attack on northern Israel. This triggered renewed clashes between the two sides, ongoing since then, resulting in the deaths of 850 people in Lebanon and 12 in Israel, according to official figures as of Saturday.
In parallel, shadowy Iran-linked groups in Iraq carried out attacks against alleged US targets, including in the Kurdistan Region, which has endured more than 300 drone and missile strikes since late February, according to Rudaw monitoring, killing seven people and injuring 35 others.
Macron on Friday stated that a French officer, Chief Warrant Officer Arnaud Frion, had been killed in a drone attack on a joint Peshmerga-French military base the previous day. Senior Peshmerga commander Sirwan Barzani told Rudaw that seven French personnel were also injured in the attack, noting that they were French military advisors and trainers who “have nothing to do with war,” but were “legally present in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.”
In their second call since the eruption of the war, the French president on Monday told his Iranian counterpart that “France is acting within a strictly defensive framework [in the region] aimed at protecting its interests, its regional partners, and freedom of navigation, and that it is unacceptable for our country to be targeted.”
He stressed that “a new political and security framework” be put in place to “ensure peace and security for all” and “guarantee that Iran never acquires nuclear weapons, while also addressing the threats posed by its ballistic missile programme and its destabilising activities regionally and internationally.”
Moreover, Macron urged that “freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz must be restored as soon as possible.”
Since the war began in late February the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed to commercial traffic after the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) declared it a restricted war zone, warning it would “set ablaze” any ship attempting to pass through.
Often described as the world’s most critical oil shipping corridor, the Strait typically handles about 20 percent of global seaborne oil trade. The conflict has already disrupted regional oil production, forcing major producers to reduce output and seek alternative export routes as global energy markets face mounting uncertainty.
The French president last week said he had ordered Paris’ aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, along with its air assets and frigate escort, to set course for the Mediterranean.
“We have economic interests to protect, and with oil prices, gas prices, and international trade deeply disrupted by this war, we are taking the initiative to build a coalition,” Macron said.
However, a little-known Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, which has claimed responsibility for many of the attacks on the Kurdistan Region since the start of the war, announced on Friday that French interests in Iraq and across the region would be “under targeting fire,” following the arrival of the French carrier.
RELATED: Iran-aligned militia warns French interests ‘under targeting fire’ in Iraq, region
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