French foreign minister says threatened Israeli strikes on Beirut will not take place
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on June 2 that the strikes Israel had threatened against Beirut "will not take place," crediting a round of diplomacy that included a call between President Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump on Sunday and his own talks with Iranian and US counterparts. He pressed for a mutual Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire and the restoration of Lebanese state authority, with Israeli-Lebanese talks due in Washington this week, while insisting Lebanon must not become "a scapegoat" for the stalled Iran-US nuclear deal. Barrot also called the closure of the Strait of Hormuz unsustainable and said an agreement between Tehran and Washington was "within reach."
Speaking on France 2's "4 Verites" on June 2, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the strikes Israel had threatened against Beirut "will not take place," based on the information he had "at this stage" and on statements by Israeli officials. He said a series of phone calls had eased the pressure: Macron spoke with Trump on Sunday, and Barrot himself spoke on Monday with his Iranian and American counterparts.
Barrot said France recognises Israel's right to self-defence, including against "unacceptable" Hezbollah attacks, but that "nothing can justify the continuation of military operations and Israel's prolonged occupation deep in Lebanese territory." He called for Hezbollah to stop attacking Israel and for Israel to stop attacking Lebanon, and for the dialogue that had opened "for the first time in so long" between the Israeli and Lebanese governments to continue. Meetings were planned in Washington this week, he said, to work toward restoring the authority of the Lebanese state, disarming Hezbollah and securing an Israeli withdrawal.
He framed his outreach to Tehran and Washington around a single conviction: "it is out of the question that Lebanon be a scapegoat for an agreement that is struggling to be concluded between Iran and the United States." On the nuclear file, Barrot noted the gap between Iran's announcement of a "suspension" of negotiations and Trump's claim that talks were "continuing at a sustained pace," and said an agreement was "within reach" and that the two sides "must now do everything to conclude it," because the situation "makes only losers, beginning with the United States and Iran." He called for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen so that maritime traffic -- oil, fertilisers and other goods -- could return to its normal course.
Pressed on the view that Netanyahu had held back to please Trump rather than Macron, Barrot defended France's record: it had called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting in the face of the escalation, had been the first to send emergency humanitarian aid to Lebanon at the start of the war, and had more recently provided some 40 armoured vehicles. He said critics who alleged French inaction "insult the memory" of two French UNIFIL peacekeepers, Adjudant Montorio and Sergent-chef Girardin, who died serving in the French contingent. On the Eurosatory arms exhibition in Paris, running June 15-19, Barrot said Israel would be permitted to display only defensive equipment, as in previous years, and that France would not ban Israeli weapons outright, in keeping with its recognition of Israel's right to defend itself.