Macron warns of Iran nuclear ‘consequences’
Visiting Israeli PM stresses need for more deterrence against proxies
French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday denounced the “headlong rush” of Iran’s nuclear programme after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in Paris to seek a stronger European stance against Tehran.
In a statement released after a dinner meeting in the Elysee Palace, Macron warned that Tehran continuing with the atomic project “would inevitably have consequences”.
Both leaders discussed ways to counter “the Iranian nuclear threat” and Netanyahu stressed the need for more “deterrence against Iran and its proxies in the Middle East”, the Israeli embassy said.
Netanyahu’s goal
Netanyahu hopes Iran’s role in supplying drones to Russian invaders in Ukraine, as well as its crackdown on protests at home, will prompt Western allies to drop any bid to revive a 2015 atomic programme deal.
By “playing the Ukraine card”, Netanyahu hopes to “consolidate an anti-Iranian front” with the West, said
David Khalfa at the Fondation Jean Jaures, a Paris-based think tank. He hopes for “increased sanctions against Iran and the full addition of the Revolutionary Guards to the list” of sanctioned entities, a step France and Germany have so far resisted, Khalfa added.
During his meeting with Macron, Netanyahu urged “substantial sanctions to be imposed on the Iran regime and called for the Revolutionary Guards to be added to the European Union’s terror list”, the Israeli embassy said.
Netanyahu’s visit came after a weekend drone attack on a defence ministry facility in the Iranian city of Isfahan.