France walks ‘fine line’ as US-Israel war on Iran escalates
Al Jazeera
President Macron has criticised the onslaught and questioned the war’s legality but ultimately blamed Iran.
Paris, France – Nearly 50 years ago, the former Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini spent about three months in the village of Neauphle-le-Chateau, west of Paris, recording speeches that helped encourage the Iranian Revolution, before he returned to Iran to overthrow the shah in 1979.
On the heels of the death of his successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the US and Israel’s assault on Iran, France and other European nations could be dragged into the conflict in the Middle East.
Since the start of the war that has killed more than 1,200 people in Iran, French President Emmanuel Macron has balanced between condemning it, calling the strikes illegal, but stating that Iran “bears primary responsibility” for the outbreak of the conflict.
“France’s position is somewhat of a fine line,” Laure Foucher, a researcher at the French think-tank Fondation pour la Recherche Strategique (Foundation for Strategic Research, or FRS), told Al Jazeera.
“Macron’s position recognises that this operation was executed outside the framework of international law. At the same time, France is not condemning it strongly because we believe that the responsibility lies primarily with Tehran, which was unwilling to compromise,” said Foucher.
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