French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian a short time ago and asked him to engage in good faith negotiations and end Iran’s attacks on other countries in the Middle East.
“I spoke again of the absolute necessity of putting a stop to these unacceptable attacks on countries in the region, of preserving energy and civilian infrastructure and of restoring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” Macron said in a post on X.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.AP
“I called on Iran to engage in good faith in negotiations in order to pave the way for de-escalation and provide a framework which will meet the expectations of the international community in terms of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic programme and its activities of regional destabilisation,” Macron added.
Earlier, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke to his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, and called on all parties to “seize every opportunity and window for peace and start peace talks as soon as possible”, according to a spokesperson.
The calls for peace come as the US and Israel, the countries who started the war, continue their bombardment of Iran and Lebanon. President Donald Trump has claimed negotiations to end the conflict are imminent despite the Pentagon planning to send thousands more troops to the Middle East. Israel’s ambassador the UN said earlier Israel was not part of talks and would continue to target military targets in Iran.