Iran rejects French FM's call to curb missile program
The French foreign minister seemingly failed to persuade Iranian officials to negotiate over their country’s missile program.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian’s trip to Iran has seemingly failed to produce the results likely expected by President Emmanuel Macron.
Le Drian arrived in Iran on March 5 and met with President Hassan Rouhani, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani.
Amid the visit, hard-line daily Kayhan slammed the Rouhani administration for its “passivity” and for hosting the French foreign minister at this time. “We should consider politicians such as Le Drian and Macron as envoys of America instead of France. … Therefore, we should ask what new developments in the US-Iran relationship except hostility and not honoring commitments have occurred that the [Iranian] government [has decided to] roll out a red carpet for the envoy of the White House,” wrote Kayhan on March 6.
The daily added, “Shamkhani and Zarif took a positive and firm position in their meetings with Le Drian, but accepting his trip [to Iran] and receiving him in meetings is equivalent to giving legitimacy to the alleged concerns of the United States and Europe and paves the way for [their] audacity and next steps.”
