Paris, France – r France’s foreign minister warned Wednesday that a military confrontation with Iran would be “almost inevitable” if talks over Tehran’s nuclear programme failed.
“In the event of failure, a military confrontation would appear to be almost inevitable,” Jean-Noel Barrot said in parliament, adding that it would severely destabilise the region.
Earlier Wednesday, President Emmanuel Macron chaired a meeting on Iran.
US President Donald Trump has threatened that Iran will be bombed if it persists in developing nuclear weapons. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has promised to hit back.
“Our confidence and our conviction remain intact,” Barrot said. “Iran must never acquire nuclear weapons.”
“Our priority is to reach an agreement that verifiably and durably constrains the Iranian nuclear program,” he added.
Since taking office in January, Trump has reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy, which in his first term saw the United States withdraw from a landmark 2015 agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme and reimpose sanctions on Tehran.
Western countries including the United States have long accused Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapon, which Tehran has denied, insisting that its enrichment activities are solely for peaceful purposes.
The 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers required Iran to limit its nuclear processing in exchange for sanctions relief.
Barrot also announced that France would “soon” lodge a complaint against Iran at the International Court of Justice over the fate of two detained French nationals.
The complaint would be filed over “the violation of the right to consular protection”, he said, referring to Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who were detained in Iran in May 2022 on accusations of seeking to stir up labour protests.
Western countries have for years accused Iran of detaining their nationals on trumped-up charges in a policy of state hostage-taking to use them as bargaining chips to extract concessions.
“We are going to step up pressure on the Iranian regime even further,” Barrot said.
He also said “additional European sanctions against Iranian officials responsible for the policy of state hostage-taking” would be announced in the coming days.
In March, French national Olivier Grondeau, detained by Iran in 2022 on security charges but described by his family as an innocent tourist, was returned to France after being released.
US adding second aircraft carrier in Middle East
The announcement comes as US forces hammer Yemen’s Huthi rebels with near-daily air strikes in a campaign aimed at ending the threat they pose to civilian shipping and military vessels in the region.
The Carl Vinson will join the Harry S. Truman in the Middle East “to continue promoting regional stability, deter aggression, and protect the free flow of commerce in the region,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.
“To complement the CENTCOM maritime posture, the secretary also ordered the deployment of additional squadrons and other air assets that will further reinforce our defensive air-support capabilities,” Parnell said, referring to the US military command responsible for the region.
“The United States and its partners remain committed to regional security in the CENTCOM (area of responsibility) and are prepared to respond to any state or non-state actor seeking to broaden or escalate conflict in the region,” he added.
The Huthis began targeting shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after the start of the Gaza war in 2023, claiming solidarity with Palestinians.
Huthi attacks have prevented ships from passing through the Suez Canal, a vital route that normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic. Ongoing attacks are forcing many companies into a costly detour around the tip of southern Africa.
‘Real pain’
A day before the carrier announcement, US President Donald Trump vowed that strikes on Yemen’s Huthis would continue until they are no longer a threat to shipping.
“The choice for the Huthis is clear: Stop shooting at US ships, and we will stop shooting at you. Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come, for both the Huthis and their sponsors in Iran,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
Trump added that the Huthis had been “decimated” by “relentless” strikes since March 15, saying that US forces “hit them every day and night — Harder and harder.”
On Wednesday, the Huthis accused the United States of killing four people in fresh air strikes on Hodeida province.
The US president has also ramped up rhetoric towards Tehran, threatening that “there will be bombing” if Iran does not reach a deal on its nuclear program.
Satellite images seen by AFP showed that Washington had between March 26 and Wednesday doubled the number of B-2 bombers at a US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean, from three to six.
The photos from imaging company Planet Labs PBC also showed the presence of six Stratotanker in-flight refuelling aircraft at the Diego Garcia base, within range of Iran.
Trump’s threats come as his administration battles a scandal over the accidental leak of a secret group chat by senior security officials on the Yemen strikes.
The Atlantic magazine revealed last week that its editor — a well-known US journalist — was inadvertently included in a chat on the commercially available Signal app where top officials were discussing the strikes.
The officials, including Trump’s National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, discussed details of air strike timings and intelligence — unaware that the highly sensitive information was being simultaneously read by a member of the media.
