French President Emmanuel Macron

After some French President Emmanuel Macron’s comments in an interview with the United Arab Emirates-based al-Ittihad newspaper in which he urged inflexibility with Iran regarding its missile program and influence in the Middle East, top Iranian official Ali Akbar Velayati criticized and strongly rejected these remarks against Iran. Velayati warned that such acts of interference would discredit the French government in the eyes of Iranians and he stressed that Tehran will never ask for permission from anyone to enhance its missile program. “As an Iranian person familiar with the foreign policy issues and the French history, I recommend the president of that country (France) to try to follow General de Gaulle’s path during his term for foreign policy”, as he added. Even the senior adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei in an interview with IRIB said that “It is not in the interests of Macron and the French government to interfere in issues pertaining to Iran’s missile program and strategic affairs, about which the Islamic Republic is very sensitive”. In denouncing Macron’s comments, Velayati also exhorted the French government not to fall under the influence of the wrong anti-Iran claims and to persuade its Persian Gulf allies to implement rational policies.