France intercepted Iranian attack at Jordan's request, Macron says
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French President Emmanuel Macron claims that France intercepted Iranian drones headed for occupied Palestine at the request of Jordan.
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France's President Emmanuel Macron takes part in a video conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Elysee Palace in Paris, April 12, 2024 (AP)
France intercepted the drones launched by Iran toward the occupied Palestinian territories in retaliation against the Israeli occupation attacking Iran's consulate in Syria "at Jordan's request," French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday.
France was among three foreign nations that helped the Israeli occupation intercept the projectiles bound for the occupied Palestinian territories, as its "effort" was joined by the United Kingdom and the United States, not to mention the regional highlight of Jordan.
While the Israeli occupation needed help from four countries to deter the Iranian attack, Macron said the Israeli occupation "managed to stop almost all of these missiles and drones. Only seven landed with one person injured."
The French President went on to describe the operation that cost the Israeli occupation billions of dollars as a "victory for Israel."
When questioned about how France intervened to support Jordan rather than support the Israeli occupation, which the interviewer said means "you didn't do it in direct support of Israel", he said, "we did it with all its support."
Read next: 'Israel' only repelled Iran attack with help from US, Arab states: WSJ
According to Macron, "the Iranians have violated the airspace of several countries," who went on to note that France only intervened within that framework.
"As you know, we have had an air base in Jordan for several years now to fight against terrorism. Jordanian airspace was violated by these launches. We took off our planes and intercepted what we had to intercept," the French President said.
Moreover, he voiced concerns about a possible escalation in West Asia, pledging to "do everything possible to avoid a flare-up," saying he'd hold talks with Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the issue.
Macron said the goal of the bilateral talks would be to "convince Israel that it should not respond by escalating, but rather by isolating Iran" via sanctions and further restrictions on Iran's peaceful nuclear program.
Macron, in clear disregard of international law, said the Iranian response to the Israeli attack on its consulate, which is considered sovereign Iranian soil within Syria's territory as per international charters, was "disproportionate", going on to criticize Iran for going "after Israel on its soil, and attacked from their own soil, which is a first," instead of "targeting Israeli interests outside Israel."
In reality, Iran had the right to respond however it saw fit because the Israeli attack not only violated its sovereignty but that of its close ally, Syria, and any Israeli target, whether in occupied Palestine or abroad, was a legitimate target.
Attack from Iran on purpose
Iranian Leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei ordered the attack carried out against the Israeli occupation to be launched from Iranian soil as part of a clear message from the Islamic Republic that it would commence a new phase of active deterrence against the Israeli occupation, The New York Times reported on Sunday citing four Iranian officials, including members of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC).
Iran is reportedly moving away from "strategic patience" and toward being active against the Israeli occupation due to the realization that in this particular situation, remaining silent would bear more cons than pros for the Islamic Republic.
"Iran’s government appears to have concluded that the Damascus strike was a strategic inflection point, where failure to retaliate would carry more downsides than benefits," said Ali Vaez, the Iran director of the International Crisis Group.
Meanwhile, Iranian analyst Nasser Imani underlined that Iran carried out the operation in a crystal-clear message to the Israeli occupation and its allies that the rules of the game have changed and that any Israeli attack on any Iranian interests would be responded to sternly and from Iranian soil.
"Iran's operation has a crystal-clear message to Israel and its allies that the rules of the game have changed and from now on, if Israel strikes any Iranian targets or kills any Iranians, we are willing to strike in a big way, and from our own soil," Imani told the NYT in a telephone interview. "The days of covert operations and patience are over."
Iran has been clear that this attack was not an act of aggression and was solely in response to the Israeli occupation's violation of Iran's sovereignty by attacking its consulate in Syria. The Iranian mission to the United Nations stressed that Tehran would stand down and leave the situation as is, so long as the Israeli occupation does not attack Iran once again.
The attack itself has sent massive reverberations throughout the world, with officials as prominent as former US National Security Advisor John Bolton, a vocal advocate for carrying out large-scale attacks on Iran, saying that the Iranian attack on the Israeli occupation was "a miserable failure of Israeli and American deterrence."
