French ambassador US war on Iran was pushed by Israel
French ambassador: US war on Iran was ‘pushed by Israel’
TEHRAN - France believes the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran is unjustified and unlawful, the French ambassador to Oman has told Middle East Eye in an exclusive interview.
Nabil Hajlaoui was speaking during an episode of The David Hearst Podcast published on Tuesday.
“This military operation is outside of international law and we cannot endorse it in any way,” Hajlaoui said.
“We don't see any justification, any Security Council resolution, or any situation where it is required to move that quickly to this military operation.”
The ambassador said that U.S.-Israeli attacks, launched on 28 February, came at a critical moment when Oman-led talks between Washington and Tehran showed signs of progress.
“We were briefed by our partners about these discussions, and we did have the impression that several elements were moving in the right direction,” he said.
Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, Oman’s foreign minister, said three weeks ago that Iran had agreed during indirect talks with the United States to never stockpile enriched uranium.
Busaidi said Iran would degrade its existing stockpiles of nuclear material to “the lowest level possible” converting them into fuel - a process that would be “irreversible”. The US and Israel launched their war a day after his comments.
Hajlaoui said he could understand Iran’s anger at being attacked days after talks. “When you discuss and then you are attacked, you are not very happy,” he said.
He noted that while Iran had likely made concessions, it was still “very far from the expectations of the Americans”.
The diplomat said that beyond the nuclear file, there were still disagreements about Tehran’s ballistic missile arsenal.
“It was collective failure to prevent war”
Hajlaoui said that Israel “probably pushed” for a military confrontation instead of lengthy negotiations.
“I'm really not informed of the way the Israelis and the Americans discussed this preparation and decision to launch military operations, but we can just see that the momentum was pushed by the Israelis,” he stated.
He said that the mood in Muscat was one of “disappointment and clear dismay” when the war began.
“It was a clear collective failure to prevent a war and to reach a peaceful agreement,” the ambassador noted.
He said Persian Gulf states were being dragged into a conflict they did not seek.
US ground invasion cannot stop “endless wars”
Hajlaoui warned that the war was being expanded geographically, with no clear limits to its escalation.
He said that a “huge international economic crisis” was looming if the Strait of Hormuz continued to be closed by Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow maritime channel, around 33km at its narrowest point, between the Musandam Peninsula in Oman and Iran.
It is described as the most significant oil chokepoint in the world, with around a fifth of global oil output passing through it, and a third of global liquified natural gas (LNG).
Hajlaoui said that while France had sent an aircraft carrier to the region as “reassurance” to partners in the region, it did not have any intentions of being involved “in any way in this war”.
Hajlaoui said France was working with allies to come up with a plan to monitor the situation in the strait, but would not actively intervene while military operations were ongoing.
The ambassador added that a U.S. troop deployment would be “a very big game changer” and escalate the situation. Such a move, he noted, would go against the administration's stated policy of stopping “endless wars”.
“This administration, from the beginning, said that they won't go to these kinds of lengthy wars, endless wars, that were waged by the previous administration (the Bush administration), and they would just reach their goals by very specific interventions,” he said.
“So that would be a total shift and in my personal opinion, an incredible political risk from the American administration.”
He also said that “multilateralism” was being undermined internationally, driven by the U.S. administration.
“We saw it very recently by stopping their contribution to many agencies and organs of the UN, by launching alternative forums in competition with the Security Council and UN,” Hajlaoui said, likely referring to Trump’s so-called Gaza Board of Peace.
source: tehrantimes.com