French President Emmanuel Macron. Photo: Collected
French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday (15 April) said that France would help do everything to avoid an escalation in the Middle East after an unprecedented Iranian missile and drone attack on Israel.
Iran launched its first-ever direct assault on Israeli territory late Saturday in retaliation for a deadly April 1 air strike on Tehran's consulate building in Syria's capital Damascus that was widely blamed on Israel.
"We will do everything to avoid a conflagration -- that is to say an escalation," Macron told the media.
That would involve "trying to convince Israel not to respond by escalating," he said.
The focus should be on "isolating Iran, convincing countries in the region that Iran is a danger, increasing sanctions, reinforcing pressure over nuclear activities" in Iran, he added.
"We need to be by Israel's side to ensure its protection to the maximum, but also to call for a limit to avoid an escalation," Macron said.
The French president also said French jets helped repel an Iranian violation of Jordan's air space during the attack.
"For several years now we have had an air base in Jordan to fight terrorism," he said.
"Jordanian airspace was violated... We made our planes take off and we intercepted what we had to intercept."
French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne on Sunday said he had asked the foreign ministry to summon the Iranian ambassador on Monday to express a "message of firmness".
Messenger/Sumon
