France said Friday that it "needs no permission" to work towards easing tensions between Iran and the US, a day after President Donald Trump accused his French counterpartEmmanuel Macron of meddling in the dispute.
"On Iran, France speaks with complete sovereignty. It is working hard for peace and security in the region, it is working to facilitate a de-escalation in tensions and it needs no permission to do so," Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement quoted by AFP.
The statement came a day after Trump wrote on Twitter that Macron was sending "mixed signals" to Iran.
“Iran is in serious financial trouble. They want desperately to talk to the U.S., but are given mixed signals from all of those purporting to represent us, including President Macron of France,” tweeted Trump.
“I know Emmanuel means well, as do all others, but nobody speaks for the United States but the United States itself. No one is authorized in any way, shape, or form, to represent us!” he added.
Le Drian said on Friday that the worsening tensions between Tehran and Washington, which have been blamed for attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf and downings of drones, called for initiatives to try to restore dialogue.
"That's what President Macron is doing, in full transparency with our partners, above all our European partners," he said, adding that Macron was "obviously keeping American authorities informed".
While he did not specifically say so, it appeared Trump was responding to a report on the Al-Monitor news site earlier this week claiming that Macron, who speaks regularly by telephone with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, had invited Rouhani to attend the G7 summit in France on August 24-26 to meet with Trump. READ MORE
