President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday, April 15, that France would help do everything to avoid a "conflagration" in the Middle East after an unprecedented Iranian missile and drone attack on Israel, which he called "disproportionate."
Asked about Iran's attack on Israel on Saturday night, Macron said he "feared" a conflagration, while underlining "Israel's victory": "They managed to the quasi-totality of these missiles and drones. Only seven hit their soil, with one person injured," he said.
"We will do everything to avoid a conflagration, in other words, escalation," Macron also told the BFM-TV news channel and RMC radio. He is due to speak Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
French jets helped repel an Iranian violation of Jordan's air space, Macron added. "For several years now we have had an air base in Jordan to fight terrorism," he said. "Jordanian airspace was violated (...) We made our planes take off and we intercepted what we had to intercept."
Iran launched its first-ever direct assault on Israeli territory late Saturday in retaliation for a deadly April 1 air strike on Tehran's consulate building in Syria's capital Damascus that was widely blamed on Israel.
Macron said he was hoping to "convince Israel not to respond by escalating, but rather by isolating Iran, and to succeed in convincing the countries of the region that Iran is a danger." The French president called to "increase sanctions" against Tehran and "strengthen pressure on nuclear activities" in order to "find a path to peace in the region." "We need to be by Israel's side to ensure its protection to the maximum, but also to call for a limit to avoid an escalation," Macron said.
Iran's attack against Israel was "disproportionate," Macron said. "Instead of touching Israeli interests outside of Israel, they went looking for Israel on its soil from their own soil, which is a first."
Iran launched over 100 medium-range ballistic missiles, more than 30 land-attack cruise missiles and over 150 attack drones at Israel, a senior US military official said. Experts say Israel was able to neutralize most of the missiles and drones.
US forces also helped, destroying "more than 80 one-way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles (OWA UAV) and at least six ballistic missiles intended to strike Israel from Iran and Yemen," US Central Command said on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday.
French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné on Sunday said he had asked the Foreign Ministry to summon the Iranian ambassador on Monday to express a "message of firmness."