Iran Accuses France of Nuclear Double Standards

By Staff, Agencies

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei has accused France of seeking to preserve its monopoly over military power while restricting other countries’ peaceful nuclear activities.

In a post on X on Friday, Baghaei responded to French President Emmanuel Macron’s remarks during a test of a ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Macron said that “to be free, therefore, one must be feared, and to be feared, one must be powerful.”

Baghaei contrasted Macron’s position with France’s stance toward Iran, citing the French president’s statement that Iran “must never possess nuclear weapons.” He questioned why France considers its own nuclear deterrent essential to its security and freedom while portraying Iran’s nuclear activities as a threat.

The Iranian spokesman maintained that Tehran’s nuclear program is peaceful and subject to international oversight. He argued that countries should not be prevented from using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes on the basis of what he described as an alleged nuclear threat.

“A peace in which nuclear powers regard their own weapons as the guarantors of their freedom and security, but label the same logic a threat when invoked by others, is not true peace,” Baghaei said, describing such an order as a “monopoly on power founded on a sense of superiority.”

He added that an international system that fails to recognize the right of all countries to security and peace ultimately serves the dominance of a limited group of powers rather than protecting peace.

Iran has consistently maintained that its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful and has cited a religious decree by the late Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, prohibiting the acquisition of nuclear weapons. Tehran also points to its status as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and years of inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog.

Baghaei further accused the "Israeli" regime of portraying Iran’s nuclear program as a threat and of influencing Washington’s decision to launch military action against Iran. According to the Iranian position, the attacks in June 2025 and early 2026 targeted civilian infrastructure, including nuclear facilities, in violation of international law and the NPT.