During his state visit to South Korea on Thursday, Macron also said that Trump has undermined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) by creating “daily doubt” about America’s commitment to the alliance.
French President Emmanuel Macron has accused US President Donald Trump of creating confusion by repeatedly contradicting himself regarding his views on the Middle East conflict.
“You have to be serious. When you want to be serious, you don’t say the opposite every day of what you said the day before. And perhaps you shouldn’t talk every day”, he said.
‘Trump Has Undermined NATO’
During his state visit to South Korea on Thursday, Macron also said that Trump has undermined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) by creating “daily doubt” about America’s commitment to the alliance.
“If you create daily doubt about your commitment, you hollow it out,” Macron said, adding that there is “too much talk … going off in all directions.”
Trump said he was strongly considering pulling the United States out of NATO after allies failed to back US military action against Iran.
Trump described the alliance as a “paper tiger” and said removing the United States from the defence pact was now “beyond reconsideration”, the newspaper reported. He said he had long held doubts about NATO’s credibility.
“Oh yes, I would say [it’s] beyond reconsideration,” Trump told the newspaper when asked about whether he would reconsider US membership of the alliance after the conflict.
Trump has also said that the US has spent “trillions of dollars on NATO” while receiving little in return when support was sought.
“There Must Be A Ceasefire”
Macron also said that it would be “unrealistic” to conduct military operation to liberate the Strait of Hormuz.
“There are those who advocate for the liberation of the Strait of Hormuz by force through a military operation, a position sometimes expressed by the United States. It is unrealistic because it would take an inordinate amount of time and would expose anyone crossing the strait to coastal threats from the (Iranian) Revolutionary Guards, who possess significant resources, as well as ballistic missiles, (and) a host of other risks,” he said.
“This can only be done in concert with Iran. So, first and foremost, there must be a ceasefire and a resumption of negotiations,” he added.
Although Trump has claimed that Iran’s navy and the rest of the military have been destroyed, Iran still has been able to throttle traffic on the Strait, through which 20 per cent of the world’s supply of gas and oil transits.
Last week, Tehran said it would let through ships from “non-hostile” nations that don’t “participate in nor support acts of aggression against Iran”.
