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Paris: Tehran’s Violations of International Law Will Not Remain Unanswered

A woman carries a noose during a rally against the Iranian regime in Paris last week (AFP)
A woman carries a noose during a rally against the Iranian regime in Paris last week (AFP)
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Paris: Tehran’s Violations of International Law Will Not Remain Unanswered

A woman carries a noose during a rally against the Iranian regime in Paris last week (AFP)
A woman carries a noose during a rally against the Iranian regime in Paris last week (AFP)

France has joined the rest of the world in condemning the execution of Alireza Akbari, a former Iranian official with dual nationality who was tried on charges of spying for British intelligence.

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned on Saturday Iran’s execution of Iranian-British national Akbari, describing it as a “despicable and barbaric act.”

Macron also expressed his solidarity with Britain and the Iranian people.

The French president’s denunciation followed the French Foreign Ministry issuing a statement in which it condemned “in the strongest terms” Iran authorities for carrying out Akbari’s death sentence.

The Ministry also expressed its “solidarity” with Britain.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna summoned Iran's charge d'affaires in Paris on Saturday over the execution of Akbari, the ministry said in a statement.

“He was also warned that Iran's repeated violations of international law cannot go unanswered, particularly with regard to the treatment of foreign nationals whom it arbitrarily detains,” the statement added.

The statement concluded by reaffirming “France's firm opposition to the death penalty in any place and under any circumstances.”

This comes as French-Iranian relations continue to deteriorate, especially after the uproar caused by the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo publishing caricatures of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Iran announced Thursday the closure of a Tehran-based French research institute in protest against cartoons of its supreme leader.

For his part, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian threatened that “the insulting and indecent act of a French publication in publishing cartoons against the religious and political authority will not go without an effective and decisive response.”

While the EU is reviewing the possibility of a fourth basket of sanctions on Iranian authorities due to their bloody suppression of popular protests and the role Tehran is playing in providing Russia with the drones used in the war on Ukraine, recent developments will likely prompt Paris to proceed with considerations for blacklisting the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization.

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Russia Condemns ‘Irresponsible’ Talk of Nuclear Weapons for Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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Russia Condemns ‘Irresponsible’ Talk of Nuclear Weapons for Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)

Discussion in the West about arming Ukraine with nuclear weapons is "absolutely irresponsible", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, in response to a report in the New York Times citing unidentified officials who suggested such a possibility.

The New York Times reported last week that some unidentified Western officials had suggested US President Joe Biden could give Ukraine nuclear weapons before he leaves office.

"Several officials even suggested that Mr. Biden could return nuclear weapons to Ukraine that were taken from it after the fall of the Soviet Union. That would be an instant and enormous deterrent. But such a step would be complicated and have serious implications," the newspaper wrote.

Asked about the report, Peskov told reporters: "These are absolutely irresponsible arguments of people who have a poor understanding of reality and who do not feel a shred of responsibility when making such statements. We also note that all of these statements are anonymous."

Earlier, senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said that if the West supplied nuclear weapons to Ukraine then Moscow could consider such a transfer to be tantamount to an attack on Russia, providing grounds for a nuclear response.

Ukraine inherited nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union after its 1991 collapse, but gave them up under a 1994 agreement, the Budapest Memorandum, in return for security assurances from Russia, the United States and Britain.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last month that as Ukraine had handed over the nuclear weapons, joining NATO was the only way it could deter Russia.

The 33-month Russia-Ukraine war saw escalations on both sides last week, after Ukraine fired US and British missiles into Russia for the first time, with permission from the West, and Moscow responded by launching a new hypersonic intermediate-range missile into Ukraine.

Asked about the risk of a nuclear escalation, Peskov said the West should "listen carefully" to Putin and read Russia's newly updated nuclear doctrine, which lowered the threshold for using nuclear weapons.

Separately, Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin said Moscow opposes simply freezing the conflict in Ukraine because it needs a "solid and long-term peace" that resolves the core reasons for the crisis.