PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron sent his top diplomatic adviser to Iran this week as part of European efforts to defuse tensions between Tehran and Washington, the French presidency said Thursday.
The adviser, Emmanuel Bonne, held “high-level meetings” Wednesday in Tehran, “with the aim of contributing to the de-escalation of tensions in the region,” Macron’s office said.
The presidency refused to say whom Bonne met, adding only that he left Tehran on Wednesday evening.
The strains between Washington and Tehran increased Thursday with Iran’s announcement that it had shot down a US “spy drone” that violated Iranian airspace near the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States has yet to respond.
The incident marks the latest escalation in tensions following last week’s attacks on two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, which the United States blamed on Iran.
Tehran has denied any involvement.
Tensions between the longtime foes, who have had no relations since the hostage crisis that followed the 1979 Islamic revolution, have increased sharply since US President Donald Trump last year abandoned a landmark 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran and re-imposed sanctions.
Macron, who is traveling to a G20 summit in the Japanese city of Osaka on June 28-29, will “have contact with the main players” in the standoff, his office said.
Before that he will pay an official visit to Japan on June 26-27, during which he will hold talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who recently traveled to Iran to try mediate in the crisis.
Abe met with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who categorically refused to hold talks with Trump.
The EU is under pressure from Tehran to try salvage the 2015 deal, with Iran threatening to breach its nuclear enrichment limits.
On Tuesday, Macron urged Tehran to be “patient and responsible.”
France’s Macron sends senior diplomat to Iran to defuse US tensions
France’s Macron sends senior diplomat to Iran to defuse US tensions
- Emmanuel Bonne held ‘high-level meetings’ Wednesday in Tehran
- The French presidency refused to say whom the top diplomatic adviser met
US launches new retaliatory strikes against Daesh in Syria after deadly ambush
- CENTCOM said operation ordered by President Donald Trump
- Launched in response to the deadly Dec. 13 Daesh attack in Palmyra
WASHINGTON: The US has launched another round of retaliatory strikes against the Daesh in Syria following last month’s ambush that killed two US soldiers and one American civilian interpreter in the country.
The large-scale strikes, conducted by the US alongside partner forces, occurred around 12:30 p.m. ET, according to US Central Command. The strikes hit multiple Daesh targets across Syria.
Saturday’s strikes are part of a broader operation that is part of President Donald Trump’s response to the deadly Daesh attack that killed Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, and Ayad Mansoor Sakat, the civilian interpreter, in Palmyra last month.
“Our message remains strong: if you harm our warfighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” US Central Command said in a statement Saturday.
A day earlier, Syrian officials said their security forces had arrested the military leader of Daesh’s operations in the Levant.
The US military said Saturday’s strikes were carried out alongside partner forces without specifying which forces had taken part.
The Trump administration is calling the response to the Palmyra attacks Operation Hawkeye Strike. Both Torres-Tovar and Howard were members of the Iowa National Guard.
It launched Dec. 19 with another large-scale strike that hit 70 targets across central Syria that had Daesh infrastructure and weapons.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces has for years been the US’s main partner in the fight against Daesh in Syria, but since the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December 2024, Washington has increasingly been coordinating with the central government in Damascus.
Syria recently joined the global coalition against Daesh.
