France Warns Iran Against Escalating Gaza Conflict Across Region

FILE PHOTO: Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France Catherine Colonna looks on during a news conference in Cairo, Egypt, October 16, 2023. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France Catherine Colonna looks on during a news conference in Cairo, Egypt, October 16, 2023. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
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France Warns Iran Against Escalating Gaza Conflict Across Region

FILE PHOTO: Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France Catherine Colonna looks on during a news conference in Cairo, Egypt, October 16, 2023. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France Catherine Colonna looks on during a news conference in Cairo, Egypt, October 16, 2023. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo

France's foreign minister said she had told her Iranian counterpart on Thursday that Tehran would bear a heavy responsibility if the conflict in Gaza spreads across the region.

"Meeting today with my Iranian counterpart in the form of a warning: the extension of the current conflict in Gaza would not benefit anyone, and Iran would have a heavy responsibility," Catherine Colonna said Thursday after a face-to-face meeting in Geneva with Hossein Amirabdollahian.

The conversation was the latest between French and Iranian officials as Paris looks in particular to defuse tensions between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel needed to be condemned “by everybody with the greatest firmness,” Colonna told her Iranian counterpart during their meeting.

“There can be no ambiguity on this topic,” she said.



8 People Die in Fire at Home for the Elderly in Serbia

Emergency personnel work at a damaged nursing home that caught fire, outside Belgrade, Serbia, January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Djordje Kojadinovic
Emergency personnel work at a damaged nursing home that caught fire, outside Belgrade, Serbia, January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Djordje Kojadinovic
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8 People Die in Fire at Home for the Elderly in Serbia

Emergency personnel work at a damaged nursing home that caught fire, outside Belgrade, Serbia, January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Djordje Kojadinovic
Emergency personnel work at a damaged nursing home that caught fire, outside Belgrade, Serbia, January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Djordje Kojadinovic

Eight people died Monday in a fire at a home for the elderly on the outskirts of the Serbian capital, Belgrade, officials said.
Seven others were injured in the blaze that erupted around 3:30 a.m. in Barajevo, a municipality on the southern edge of Belgrade, state RTS television reported.
“Emergency crews reacted swiftly ... but unfortunately the fire had already flared up and eight people lost their lives,” The Associated Press quoted Serbian Social Care Minister Nemanja Starovic as saying.
Police said in a statement that 30 people were in the home when the fire broke out. They said the fire engulfed over a third of the care facility, which is located in a house in a rural area.
The suspected cause of the fire was arson, police said.
The state prosecutor's office said an investigation is still underway but that initial indications suggest that one of the residents who died in the fire had started it.
The injured were transferred to two hospitals in Belgrade, RTS said. At least one person was in serious condition, doctors said.
“This is a huge tragedy, but it could have been even worse,” RTS quoted emergency sector officer Luka Causic as saying.