BAGHDAD: France’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that Iraq should not be pulled into conflicts in a turbulent Middle East during his first visit to the country, which has suffered from decades of instability.
Jean-Noel Barrot will also visit Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as part of a regional tour to push for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Iraq, an ally to both Tehran and Washington, has been navigating a delicate balancing act not to be drawn into the fighting, after pro-Iran factions launched numerous attacks on US troops based in Iraq, as well as mostly failed attacks on Israel.
“It is essential for Iraq not to be drawn into conflicts it did not choose,” Barrot said in a joint conference with his counterpart Fuad Hussein.
He praised the Iraqi government’s efforts to “preserve the stability of the country.”
“We are convinced that a strong and independent Iraq is a source of stability for the entire region, which is threatened today by the conflict that started on October 7, and Iran’s destabilising activities,” Barrot said.
There have been no attacks by pro-Iran Iraqi factions for several months, while Iraq is now preparing to host an Arab League summit and the third edition of the Baghdad Conference on regional stability, which Paris has been co-organizing with Baghdad since 2021.
Since returning to the White House in January, US President Donald Trump has reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy with Iran while engaging in talks over its nuclear program.
Fuad Hussein urged for successful talks “to spare the region from the danger of war,” adding that “there are no alternatives to negotiations.”
Barrot met Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani in Baghdad, and he is expected later in the autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq to meet with Kurdish leaders.
Sudani said he welcomed “an upcoming visit” of French President Emmanuel Macron to Iraq, which would be his third trip to the country.
Iraq and France have been strengthening their bilateral relations in several sectors, including energy and security.
France has deployed troops in Iraq as part of the US-led international coalition to fight the Daesh group, which was defeated in Iraq in 2017, although some of its militant cells remain active.
Baghdad is now seeking to end the coalition’s mission and replace it with bilateral military partnerships with the coalition’s members, saying its own forces can lead the fight against the weakened militants.
“We cannot allow ten years of success against terrorism to be undermined,” Barrot said, adding that France remains ready to contribute to the fighting.
Barrot’s regional tour will also help “prepare for the international conference for the implementation of the two-state solution” that Paris will co-organize in June with Riyadh, the French foreign ministry said.
Macron said earlier this month that France planned to recognize a Palestinian state, possibly as early as June.
He said he hoped it would “trigger a series of other recognitions,” including of Israel.
For decades, the formal recognition of a Palestinian state has been seen as the endgame of a peace process between Palestinians and Israel.
French FM says Iraq should not be dragged into regional conflicts
https://arab.news/8kz7j
French FM says Iraq should not be dragged into regional conflicts
- “It is essential for Iraq not to be drawn into conflicts it did not choose,” Barrot said
- He praised the Iraqi government’s efforts to “preserve the stability of the country“
Five takeaways from Mojtaba Khamenei’s defiant first message
- Khamenei’s father Ali Khamenei, supreme leader since 1989, wife, sister, child and brother-in-law were all killed on February 28 at the start of the US-Israeli war
- The message was not accompanied by video or audio of the new leader giving the remarks, or even a new still image
PARIS: Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Thursday issued his first message since his elevation to the post, threatening revenge for his father’s killing, though he did not deliver the declaration in person.
Khamenei’s father Ali Khamenei, supreme leader since 1989, was killed on February 28 at the start of the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic in an air strike that also claimed the lives of other top security officials and family members.
Mojtaba Khamenei was himself wounded, according to statements by some Iranian officials and state television, but there remains uncertainty over his whereabouts and physical condition.
Here are five takeaways from his first statement as supreme leader.
- Uncertainty over condition -
“The first message of the supreme leader of the Islamic revolution, his excellency Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hossein Khamenei!” an Iranian TV anchor declared before reading out the lengthy statement.
There was, however, no attempt to end the speculation over Khamenei’s condition, and the statement was not accompanied by video or audio of the new leader giving the remarks, or even a new still image.
Instead, the statement was read against the backdrop of an archive photo of Khamanei and a computer-generated flag of the Islamic republic.
- Call for revenge -
In the statement, Khamenei offered no hint that he was seeking to make peace with Iran’s enemies, and instead emphasized his desire for revenge in a war that has claimed the life of his father and his wife.
“A limited amount of this revenge has so far taken concrete form, but until it is fully achieved, this case will remain among our priorities,” Khamenei said.
“We will seek compensation from the enemy, and if they refuse, we will take as much of their property as we determine, and if that is not possible, we will destroy the same amount of his property,” he added.
He singled out a deadly strike on a school in Minab in southern Iran that Iranian authorities have said was carried out by the US and left 150 people dead, describing it as a “crime the enemy deliberately committed.”
A preliminary US military investigation has determined that a missile struck the school because of a targeting mistake, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
- Threats to enemies -
Echoing the language of his late father, Khamanei also emphasized Iran’s potential to cause havoc across the region by squeezing oil supplies and using regional proxies.
He called for using “the lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz” — a strategic waterway through which a fifth of global oil passes.
“The will of the people is for the continuation of an effective and deterrent defense that will make the enemy regret its actions.”
He warned that “studies have also been carried out on opening other fronts in which the enemy has little experience and in which it will be extremely vulnerable,” without giving details.
Those fronts would be “activated” if the war continued, he said.
- Warning to region -
Khamenei noted that Iran shared land or sea borders with some 15 countries and “we have always desired warm and constructive relations” with these neighbors.
But Khamenei called for the closure of US bases in nearby countries, saying “the claim of establishing security and peace by America was nothing more than a lie.”
“These countries must determine their stance regarding those who have invaded our dear homeland and killed our people.”
- Grieving son and husband -
He lauded his father as a “shining treasure and distinguished figure in history,” and said he had seen the late ayatollah’s corpse after his “martyrdom.”
Khamenei described the body as “a mountain of steadfastness” with the fist of his father’s one functioning hand — his other arm was paralyzed after a bomb attack in the 1980s — clenched in a sign of defiance.
Khamenei emphasized that as well as his father, he had also lost in the attack “my dear and loyal wife,” his sister, her child and his brother-in-law.
He did not mention his mother, who previous reports said had also been killed. The Fars news agency said Thursday those reports were inaccurate and she was still alive.
Khamenei said that he had learned of his appointment by the Assembly of Experts clerical body “at the same time as you” on television through the state broadcaster.
