The first talk by a Western leader with Iran's president since the start of the war. Macron also spoke with Trump
French President Emmanuel Macron told the Iranian president, in a Sunday discussion, that Tehran's forces must stop attacking other countries in the region, as well as guarantee freedom of navigation, “ending the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz,” according to The New York Times and Euronews. Macron stated that he also spoke with US President Donald Trump, without providing any other details about this conversation, AFP notes.
Emmanuel Macron is the first Western leader to talk to Masoud Pezeshkian in the current security context.
“I stressed the need for Iran to immediately stop attacks against countries in the region,” the French head of state said in a post on X.
Macron also said he conveyed to Pezeshkian his “serious concern” about Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, as well as Tehran's “destabilizing activities in the region.”
During the dialogue, the French leader also mentioned the cases of Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, two French citizens released from an Iranian prison in November and transferred to the French embassy in Tehran after more than three years of detention on espionage charges. Macron described their repatriation as an “absolute priority”.
According to the French president, he and Iranian leader Masoud Pezeshkian agreed to keep in touch.
Macron, visit to Cyprus
The French president will visit Cyprus on Monday, where a British base was hit with a drone by the Lebanese pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia a week ago, prompting Macron to send the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean and deploy other forces to the region.
In Cyprus, the EU state geographically closest to the Middle East, Macron will meet his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, according to Le Monde.
The visit to Paphos is a show of “solidarity” and details will be discussed to “strengthen security around Cyprus and in the eastern Mediterranean”, the Elysée Palace said on Sunday.
