France sees risk of ‘stumble into US-Iranian war’

Iran’s breaching of caps on its uranium enrichment after the US pulled out of the world nuclear deal with Tehran was “a bad reaction to a bad decision”, raising fears of a stumble into war, says French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Tensions have risen as Washington has blamed Iran for several attacks on oil tankers and Tehran shot down a US surveillance drone, prompting President Donald Trump to order air strikes he called off only minutes before impact.

Trump withdrew the US in 2018 from the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers to curb its nuclear programme, to the dismay of co-signatories France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China.

The US has tightened sanctions to block Iran’s oil exports and other benefits accruing from the deal. Tehran has responded by enriching uranium beyond set limits and threatening to restart deactivated centrifuges and ramp up enrichment well above the level deemed normal for electricity generation.

“The situation is serious. The rise of tensions could lead to accidents,” Le Drian told reporters when asked about the risk of a wider Middle East war.

“The fact Iran has decided to pull back from some of its engagements on nuclear proliferation is an additional worry. It is a bad decision, a bad reaction to another bad decision, that of the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal a year ago,” he said, arriving for the annual Bastille Day military parade in Paris.

The European powers do not support Trump’s sanctions squeeze on Iran, aimed at forcing it into negotiations on stricter nuclear limits and other security concessions, but have been unable to come up with ways to allow Iran to avert them.

“No-one wants a war. I’ve noticed that everyone is saying they don’t want to go to the summit of the escalation. Neither [Iran] President [Hassan] Rouhani, nor President Trump or other Gulf leaders.

“But here there are elements of escalation that are worrisome,” Le Drian said.

“Iran gains nothing from withdrawing from its engagement [with nuclear deal]. The US also gains nothing if Iran gets nuclear weapons, so it is important that de-escalation measures are taken to ease the tensions.”

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has backed Iraq’s proposal for a summit between Iran and its regional rivals, US-allied Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

IRAN GAINS NOTHING FROM WITHDRAWING FROM ITS ENGAGEMENT. THE US ALSO GAINS NOTHING IF IRAN GETS NUCLEAR WEAPONS