Stéphane Séjourné spoke on the phone with Abbas Araghchi on Friday, one month after the election of the new Iranian president, the reformer Massoud Pezeshkian.
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The French Minister of Foreign Affairs “warned against continued destabilizing proliferation actions” Tehran, in a meeting with his new Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, specified, Friday, August 23, a press release from the Quai d’Orsay. This telephone conversation takes place a month after the election of Iran’s new president, reformer Massoud Pezeshkian.
Stéphane Séjourné has “expresses its deep concern about the rise in tensions in the region”calling the Islamic Republic “to do everything to avoid a regional conflagration, which would be of no interest to anyone”according to the ministry’s press release. The head of French diplomacy insisted that “Iran calls on the destabilizing actors it supports in the region to exercise the greatest restraint”reference to members of “axis of resistance” against Israel such as Hamas, Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemeni Houthis.
The resigning minister also “reiterated France’s absolute priority of obtaining the immediate release of our compatriots held hostage in Iran”. Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, arrested in May 2022 in Iran, as well as a Frenchman named Olivier whose name has not been made public, are still being held by Tehran. Iran is holding around ten Western nationals and is accused of using them as bargaining chips in state-to-state negotiations.
