French President Emmanuel Macron has said the Donald Trump’s comments about the protests in Iran is in danger of of putting America on a path to war with the Islamic Republic.
The U.S president weighed into the current wave of protest gripping Iran, tweeting his support for the demonstrators and heavily criticising the government.
But President Macron said it was important to maintain dialogue with Iran, warning that the tone of comments adopted by the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia towards Tehran was virtually a path to war.
Emmanuel Macron has warned against the tone of the comments made by Donald Trump about Iran
‘The official line pursued by the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, who are our allies in many ways, is almost one that would lead us to war,’ Macron told reporters.
The line being taken was ‘a deliberate strategy for some,’ he said, adding that France wanted to maintain some balance.
‘Otherwise, we end up surreptitiously rebuilding an “axis of evil”,’ he said, referring to a comment by former U.S. President George W. Bush, who once used that term to describe countries including Iran, Iraq and North Korea.
Macron also said he would only visit Iran if there was a return to calm and respect for freedoms.
On Friday he tweeted Trump tweeted on Friday night in support of protests against Iran’s economic problems that had spread to several towns and cities in Iran.
Donald Trump has been vocal in his criticism of the Iranian government and in support for the protesters
The U.S president has used his favourite medium of Twitter to weigh into the situation in Iran
‘Many reports of peaceful protests by Iranian citizens fed up with regime’s corruption & its squandering of the nation’s wealth to fund terrorism abroad,’ he wrote.
In a tweet at the weekend, US President Donald Trump warning that the country’s people want change and ‘oppressive regimes cannot endure forever.’
Trump posted on Twitter two clips of his speech to the UN General Assembly in September in which he took aim at the Iranian regime, which Washington has held out as its top adversary in the Middle East.
‘Oppressive regimes cannot endure forever, and the day will come when the Iranian people will face a choice. The world is watching!’ he tweeted, quoting from the speech.
The President warned ‘the U.S. is watching’ as he branded Tehran ‘brutal and corrupt’ following a judge’s warning that Iranian demonstrators will face the death penalty.