Key U.S. Ally Humiliates Trump as He Slams Deadly War
The French president did not mince his words about Trump’s attack on Iran.
A critical European ally has called out President Donald Trump’s deadly war in Iran.
During an address to the nation on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron denounced the joint bombing campaign launched by the United States and Israel, saying the attacks were “outside international law.”
Macron and Trump pictured together last year.
Evelyn Hockstein/REUTERS
“The United States of America and Israel have decided to launch military operations; these operations were conducted outside international law, which we cannot condone,” Macron said in the pre-recorded speech aired on French television.
“The attacks launched by American and Israeli missile strikes against Iran have now spread throughout the region and continue to have serious consequences for world peace and security,” the French president continued.
French President Emmanuel Macron had stern words for the United States during the World Economic Forum.
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images
Trump, 79, claimed responsibility for Saturday’s joint offensive launched in Iran by American and Israeli forces that resulted in the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The war in the Middle East has also claimed the lives of six U.S. troops and hundreds of civilians.
When asked if Israel forced his hand, Trump said on Tuesday: “No. I might have forced their hand.”
President Trump rants about European allies, Spain and the United Kingdom, in the Oval Office on March 3 after starting a war with Iran.
Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance via Getty Images
“It was my opinion that they were going to attack first,” Trump said on Tuesday, implying that Iranian forces were planning on preemptively striking American targets.
The day before, Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio had claimed that the U.S. believed Israel was planning to hit Iran, and America would be targeted as a result.
“The imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked, and we believed they would be attacked, they would immediately come after us,” Rubio said on Monday. “If we waited for them to hit us first after they were attacked by someone else, we would suffer more casualties and more deaths.”
Rubio changed his tune about the U.S. reasoning behind Saturday's preemptive strikes against Iran.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
Rubio later backpedaled on his claims, telling reporters Tuesday the statement that the U.S. got involved in the strikes on Iran because Israel was going to strike first was “false.”
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When reached for comment, a White House official told the Daily Beast: “The President exercised his authority as Commander in Chief to defend U.S. personnel and bases in the region against an implacable enemy that has spent the last four decades attacking Americans to pursue its radical agenda and the last four weeks manipulating the diplomatic process to buy time to build up its offensive military capabilities increasing the regime’s threat to U.S. personnel, our bases, and allies in the region and around the world.”
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