France has told Iran to use its influence in the region to prevent widening of the conflict in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said Iran, under these circumstances, should curb the spread of war, particularly to Lebanon.
The French minister was meeting with her Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in the Swiss city of Geneva on Thursday on the latest developments of Israel’s war on the Palestinian territory.
According to a statement released by the French Foreign Ministry following the meeting, Colonna had told Amir-Abdollahian “with firmness” that Tehran had a “heavy responsibility” in the matter.
France’s top diplomat also said “all measures” had to be taken to protect civilians in the war and that access needed to be guaranteed for humanitarian aid.
Amir-Abdollahian, for his part, said he had a frank and important meeting with Colonna. “In Geneva, we had a frank and important conversation with French Foreign Minister Colonna regarding the developments in Palestine, bilateral and consular issues and the perspective of relations between Iran and France,” he said on X.
“We warned about the consequences of the continuation of war crimes in Gaza. The immediate cessation of genocide in Gaza, the sending of relief aid, and the exchange of civilian prisoners were also emphasized.”
در ژنو گفتگوی صریح و مهمی با @MinColonna وزير خارجه فرانسه در خصوص تحولات فلسطین، موضوعات دوجانبه، کنسولی و چشم‌انداز روابط🇮🇷و🇫🇷 داشتیم.
ضمن هشدار نسبت به تبعات استمرار جنایات جنگی در غزه، بر توقف فوری نسل کشی در غزه ، ارسال کمک‌های امدادی و تبادل اسرای غیرنظامی تاکید شد. pic.twitter.com/bRG0dRdsCV
— H.Amirabdollahian امیرعبداللهیان (@Amirabdolahian) November 16, 2023
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long suppression and devastation against Palestinians. According to the Gaza-based health ministry, Israel has killed 11,500 Palestinians, including 4,630 children and 3,130 women, and injured more than 32,000 others.
US wants China to use influence over Iran
Separately on Thursday, White House spokesman John Kirby said the United States would like China to use its communications lines with Iran to tell Tehran that a wider war in West Asia should be avoided.
“We certainly would encourage them to use those lines to reiterate to the Iranians that we don’t want to see a deepening or an escalation of the conflict in the region,” he said at a press conference when asked whether President Joe Biden had received assurances from his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that he would urge Iran to stop what Kirby called attacking US forces in Syria and Iraq.
Iran has strongly rejected the allegations that the country has been involved in the recent series of strikes on US military troops in Iraq and neighboring Syria.
The strikes on US military positions in the two Arab countries come amid rising anti-US sentiment over Washington’s all-out support for the Israeli onslaught on Gaza.
