As direct Israeli-Lebanese negotiations are set to open in Washington on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron spent the weekend posting on X and making phone calls, to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, urging a ceasefire, freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and a "robust and lasting diplomatic solution" for the region.
The hard reality is that the key players in this crisis, the United States, Israel, Iran, and their regional partners, are negotiating without France © Mena Today
As direct Israeli-Lebanese negotiations are set to open in Washington on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron spent the weekend posting on X and making phone calls, to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, urging a ceasefire, freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and a "robust and lasting diplomatic solution" for the region.
The optics tell a different story. France was not consulted on the Washington talks. It is not involved. It was not invited.
In a diplomatic crisis that is reshaping the Middle East, Paris has been left on the sidelines, reduced to issuing declarations on social media while the real negotiations happen elsewhere.
Macron's communiqués followed a familiar script. He and Mohammed bin Salman agreed to "remain in close contact to contribute to de-escalation." He reminded Erdogan of the need to respect the ceasefire. He called for the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened "as quickly as possible." All worthy sentiments, and all entirely disconnected from the actual levers of power at play.
The hard reality is that the key players in this crisis, the United States, Israel, Iran, and their regional partners, are negotiating without France.
The direct talks opening in Washington between Lebanon and Israel, brokered without any French involvement, are perhaps the clearest illustration yet of Paris's diminished standing in Middle Eastern affairs.
Macron can talk. He can post. But in a region where influence is measured in actions, not words, France's voice carries little weight.
Syria's Interior Ministry announced Saturday that its counter-terrorism directorate, in cooperation with the internal security command around Damascus, had thwarted a bomb plot targeting a religious figure near a Maronite church in the Bab Touma district of the capital, and has linked the cell to Hezbollah.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday posted on social media that the United States military has started to clear the Strait of Hormuz nL1N40T08R, and that all of Iran's minelaying ships have been sunk.
Iranian state television has revealed that Tehran's delegation has presented Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif with a set of firm red lines, as diplomatic efforts to resolve the escalating regional crisis gather pace. The demands, if confirmed, appear to leave little room for compromise with Washington.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.
