France to Send 12 Additional Caesar Howitzers to Ukraine

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov shakes hands with French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu during a press conference as part of Ukraine's Defense Minister's official visit, at the Hotel de Brienne, the French Ministry of Armed Forces, in Paris on January 31, 2023. (Reuters)
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov shakes hands with French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu during a press conference as part of Ukraine's Defense Minister's official visit, at the Hotel de Brienne, the French Ministry of Armed Forces, in Paris on January 31, 2023. (Reuters)
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France to Send 12 Additional Caesar Howitzers to Ukraine

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov shakes hands with French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu during a press conference as part of Ukraine's Defense Minister's official visit, at the Hotel de Brienne, the French Ministry of Armed Forces, in Paris on January 31, 2023. (Reuters)
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov shakes hands with French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu during a press conference as part of Ukraine's Defense Minister's official visit, at the Hotel de Brienne, the French Ministry of Armed Forces, in Paris on January 31, 2023. (Reuters)

France said on Tuesday it will send 12 additional Caesar howitzers to Ukraine and has discussed training Ukrainian pilots to fly French fighter jets as part of military assistance to Kyiv in the war with Russia.

Speaking after meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov in Paris, Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said France will also send 150 army staff to Poland to train up to 600 Ukrainian soldiers per month there.

Paris has already delivered 18 Caesar howitzers to Kyiv. The additional 12 Caesar Howitzers will be funded by a 200-million-euro ($217 million) fund approved by the French parliament, Lecornu said.

"If these 12 Caesar are possible, it is because Nexter (the manufacturer) has increased production capacity," he added.

On Monday when asked about sending fighter jets to Ukraine, President Emmanuel Macron had said at a press conference in the Hague "by definition, nothing is excluded".

Lecornu reiterated that position on Tuesday, saying "there was no taboo" when asked the same question.

France's position when it came to supplying arms to Ukraine was that it should not weaken France's own defense capacity, that it should be useful and practical to help Kyiv in the war with Russia and that the weapons be used only by Ukraine to defend itself, he said.

Training Ukrainian pilots to fly fighter jets was "part of our discussions but no decision has yet been taken on that issue," Lecornu said.

Reznikov said on Tuesday that a decision by France this month to provide Kyiv with light AMX-10 RC armored combat vehicles had had a "snowball" effect, with other allies later promising to send tanks.



Iran Says It Will Respond to Reimposition of UN Sanctions

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
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Iran Says It Will Respond to Reimposition of UN Sanctions

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)

Iran will react to any reimposition of United Nations sanctions over its nuclear program, the country's foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, without elaborating on what actions Tehran might take.

A French diplomatic source told Reuters last week that European powers would have to restore UN sanctions on Iran under the so-called "snapback mechanism" if there were no nuclear deal that guaranteed European security interests.

The "snapback mechanism" is a process that would reimpose UN sanctions on Tehran under a 2015 nuclear deal that lifted the measures in return for restrictions on Iran's nuclear program.

"The threat to use the snapback mechanism lacks legal and political basis and will be met with an appropriate and proportionate response from Iran," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told a press conference, without giving further details.

The 2015 deal with Britain, Germany, France, the US, Russia and China - known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - states that if the parties cannot resolve accusations of "significant non-performance" by Iran, the "snapback mechanism" process can be triggered by the 15-member UN Security Council.

"The European parties, who are constantly trying to use this possibility as a tool, have themselves committed gross and fundamental violations of their obligations under the JCPOA," Baghaei said.

"They have failed to fulfill the duties they had undertaken under the JCPOA, so they have no legal or moral standing to resort to this mechanism."

Western countries accuse Iran of plotting to build a nuclear weapon, which Tehran denies.

The United States pulled out of the deal in 2018 under the first administration of President Donald Trump, who called the agreement "weak".

Trump, whose second presidency began in January, has urged Tehran to return to nuclear negotiations on a new deal after a ceasefire was reached last month that ended a 12-day air war between Iran and Israel that destabilized the Middle East.

When asked if Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi would meet with Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, Baghaei said no date or location had been set for resuming the US-Iran nuclear talks.