Macron: The European Union must expand the scope of sanctions against Tehran

Brussels – French President Emmanuel Macron announced yesterday, Wednesday, that the European Union must adapt and expand the scope of sanctions imposed against Iran, in the context of preventing it from deteriorating the situation in the Middle East.

Macron said upon his arrival in Brussels to participate in the European Union summit, in response to a journalist’s question regarding European sanctions on Iran: “We need to adapt and expand them.”

He added: “We demand that the sanctions also include all activities related to the production of missiles and drones that were used in Saturday’s attacks (on Israel). It is our duty to expand these sanctions,” according to a recording published on the official website of the Elysee Palace.

Macron had expressed his opinion earlier this week on the need to tighten sanctions on Iran to prevent the situation in the Middle East from spiraling out.

On Saturday evening, Iran launched a large-scale direct attack on Israel, using dozens of drones and ballistic missiles, in response to Israel targeting the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital, Damascus, at the beginning of this month.

For its part, Israel announced that it intercepted most of these missiles and drones, and that a few of them reached its territory, and that the resulting damage was minimal. Some Western countries helped Israel intercept Iranian missiles and drones.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced, in a televised statement on Saturday, that “in response to the crime of the Zionist entity and its attack on the consulate of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Air Force bombed certain targets in the territory of the Zionist entity with dozens of drones and missiles.”

For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured his colleagues in the ruling Likud Party yesterday, Monday, that Tel Aviv will respond to the unprecedented Iranian attack “with wisdom, not emotion,” and that the Air Force is ready.

As for Iran, it announced that its response to Israel’s aggression achieved its goals and does not intend to continue the attack. She added: But if Israel takes any measures, the next Iranian operation will be more violent than the previous one.

Source: RT