UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicles drive in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, southern Lebanon, Oct. 11, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Karamallah Daher
In his interview published in France’s Le Figaro on October 15th, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf was quoted as saying his country would be ready to “negotiate” with France to implement United Nations Resolution 1701. That resolution calls for southern Lebanon to be free of any troops or weapons other than those of the Lebanese state.
We aren’t the only people who noticed the bizarre absence of the actual Lebanese side in those supposed negotiations.
On Friday, October 18th, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati in a startling moment of bravery, called those remarks “blatant interference in Lebanese affairs and an attempt to establish a rejected guardianship over Lebanon.” He also emphasized that such negotiations fall under the authority of the Lebanese state.
Mikati instructed Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib to summon the Chargé d’Affaires of the Iranian embassy in Beirut in response to Ghalibaf’s statements.
It’s worth mentioning that Mikati made no demands towards the French ambassador in Lebanon, although the logical assumption would be to summon him as well and make inquiries as to what exactly made both countries feel so bold as to decide the fate of Lebanon tete-a-tete. Especially considering the fact that Mikati had a meeting with the French Ambassador to Lebanon, Hervé Magro, on October 16th.
Both the French Republic and the Islamic Republic of Iran behave towards Lebanon like it is not an independent state with its own government, but a colony of either of them.
On October 13th, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the escalating crisis in southern Lebanon via phone call. According to Tehran Times, a regime-affiliated media outlet, Pezeshkian noted that Iran held back its efforts, despite the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
This turn of phrase is an admission, of sorts, of Iran’s involvement in the Middle East conflict du jour. Iran generally avoids any direct involvement in regional or world conflicts, using a net of proxies instead, but the current war against Israel has been different.
Despite the fact that France is a Western country, French interests sometimes seem aligned with Iran’s. A two-year investigation by France24 has uncovered that ammunition manufactured by the French company Cheddite was used in Iran during the violent suppression of the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests. The investigation reveals that these cartridges remain widely accessible in Iran, despite European sanctions imposed in 2011.
The same munitions were used against Southern Azerbaijani protesters. This ethnic minority in Iran protested against oppression, discrimination, and erasure of their culture and language.
In 2023, France decided to restart supplying military equipment, such as armored personnel carriers (APCs), to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), despite concerns that this could indirectly benefit Iranian-controlled Hezbollah. The militant group has infiltrated parts of the Lebanese military, raising fears that French-supplied equipment could be used by Hezbollah in conflicts against Israel.
Reports suggest that Hezbollah has previously acquired US-provided military gear intended for the LAF, and critics argue that France’s shipments risk further empowering Hezbollah, which could escalate tensions in the region.
France’s ongoing arms sales to Lebanon, including APCs, are seen as part of a strategy to maintain influence in its former mandate. Critics argued that France, by prioritizing its strategic interests in Lebanon, may inadvertently be fueling regional instability by empowering Hezbollah, which threatens Israel’s security.
US experts conclude that “the danger of arming Lebanon is nothing new. In 2016, the Israeli government presented evidence that Hezbollah was using APCs supplied by the United States to the LAF. In July 2023, the ALMA Research and Education Center reported that weapons and military equipment provided to the Lebanese Army by the aforementioned Western countries had slipped into the hands of Hezbollah.”
At the same time, Iran was supplying huge shipments of Russian-made weapons to Hezbollah, which was getting ready to invade Israel, like Hamas did on October 7th, 2023.
Hezbollah was amassing these weapons near the border, in the area allegedly controlled by the LAF and UN peacekeepers under UNIFIL. Both were supposed to stop Hezbollah from attacking Israel, but failed. France had no problem with that.
Elsewhere, Armenia is also used as a transit station for sanctioned goods to move them between West, Iran, and Russia. Unsurprisingly, France, although keeping an anti-Russia stance, staunchly ignores any and all breaches of economic sanctions committed by Armenia.
Both France and Iran have a common interest to at least impede, if not sidetrack, the upcoming peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan. France, which has a history of using Armenians to fight the Turkic nations in the region, fears that after the end of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the former will have no need for the great European protector (rendering the power of the Armenian lobby in France obsolete).
Iran sees Azerbaijan first and foremost as a friend of its archenemy — Israel. This is why Iran has threatened to strike Azerbaijan’s oil refineries in retaliation for potential Israeli military action against Iranian oil fields.
It is odd how the interests of Iran and France converge in different regions. Maybe there is a tangible likeness in their visions and strategies. Two sides of the malevolent colonizer paradigm, constantly searching for ways to exploit those they deem “less than.”
