‘No military solution’ to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, says French FM

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00:00Earlier today, the French Foreign Minister took questions from lawmakers in the National Assembly

00:04to outline France's position on events currently taking place in the Middle East.

00:09For more on all of this, we can bring in France 24's Clovis Casali,

00:12who was listening to that session in the National Assembly.

00:15Clovis, talk us through some of the reactions we were getting from that.

00:18Well, many on the left wing here in France are infuriated at Israel,

00:22saying Benjamin Netanyahu has violated international law by attacking,

00:27by carrying out those air strikes first on Iranian soil.

00:31Benjamin Netanyahu, of course, saying they are preventive,

00:35they are a way to destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities,

00:38with the Iranian regime vowing to destroy the state of Israel.

00:43You have the radical left and Al-Majdu Four, who's an MP,

00:45who asked a question to the French Foreign Minister,

00:49and she was very careful in the words she chose,

00:52because her party has often been accused of complacency towards authoritarian regimes

00:57in Russia, Venezuela and Iran.

01:00But she said that the international law is very clear.

01:05Israel is the aggressor.

01:06And regardless of what you think of the Iranian regime,

01:10Israel should not have carried out those air strikes first.

01:13She says her party has never defended Khomeini and the Iranian regime.

01:18And she, in her question, talked about the atrocities in Gaza,

01:23saying that Israel is killing way too many civilians and starving many.

01:28Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barraud,

01:30who's, of course, the ally of President Emmanuel Macron,

01:35reacted rather calmly at first.

01:38We're going to listen to several extracts from his answers.

01:41First one, he's stating France's position,

01:43saying Paris does not support the strikes.

01:48We have not supported and not taken part in any Israeli military operations.

01:56Since they began, we have repeatedly called for restraint,

01:59de-escalation to spare civilians' lives

02:02and for strikes to stop on both sides.

02:05Because we believe there is no military solution

02:07to the problem of Iran's nuclear program.

02:10It's not a statement that dates back a day.

02:12We've been saying this for months and years.

02:14So that was France's foreign minister responding to that carefully worded question

02:22that came from a member of the parliament.

02:24Something which France has made it clear is that Iran cannot get a nuclear bomb.

02:28And Barraud, the foreign minister, said yesterday that Iran was on the verge of getting a nuclear bomb.

02:35And that should not happen, of course.

02:38Some in the ruling centrist bloc of Emmanuel Macron during the National Assembly session

02:42were very strong advocates of Israel, saying Israel should be defended by all means

02:49and that this is a very clear situation where you have one ally, Israel, one enemy, Iran.

02:56Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Jean-Noël Barraud

02:58have been critical of Israel in the past, of Benjamin Netanyahu saying that the atrocities

03:05in Gaza should stop immediately, that civilian lives should be spared.

03:09And remember also that he's been working for months towards this conference at the United Nations

03:15on the recognition of a Palestinian state supporting the two-state solution along with other nations.

03:24France trying to do that in a difficult situation,

03:26trying to manoeuvre with its traditional ally, Israel, of course.

03:31But when it comes to Iran today, Jean-Noël Barraud made it loud and clear

03:37that it wasn't a regime that you could trust.

03:40And he explained why.

03:42You know, earlier I said he responded in a rather calm way.

03:45Yeah.

03:46Let's hear.

03:46The Iranian regime has nuclear capabilities and ballistic missiles that could potentially

03:57reach Europe.

03:58Is it necessary also to remind you that the Iranian regime has supported all terrorist groups,

04:05that they congratulated those who committed the October 7th attacks where 50 of our compatriots

04:10lost their lives?

04:12Is it necessary to remind you that the Iranian regime has provided hundreds of missiles and

04:17thousands of drones to Russia, who again attacked Ukraine last night with endless violence and

04:22cruelty?

04:23And is it necessary to remind you that the Iranian regime is holding hostage our compatriots

04:29Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris?

04:35OK, so a little more animated, one can say, French foreign minister.

04:39Clovis, thank you very much for that.

04:40Clovis Casali.

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