French President: Iraq should stop depending on Iran

Shafaq News/ The French President, Emmanuel Macron, considered the presence of Prime Minister Muhammad Shia' al-Sudani, at the 2nd Baghdad Conference in Amman, as a "victory for the regional agenda" that aims to reduce Iranian influence on Iraq.

"We cannot find any solution to the problems of Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria except by dialogue to reduce Iranian regional role." Macron told the Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar.

"The Iranians did not commit sincerely from 2019 and 2020, the former Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, expressed a desire to work. On this basis, starting from 2020, we developed a strategy with former President Barham Salih and Al-Kadhimi to strengthen the sovereignty of Iraq." He added.

The French President said he kept on his calls with Iraqis and visited Baghdad in August 2021 for the Baghdad conference to help Iraqis "improve their security."

"For the first time, we brought Iranians, Turks, Gulf states, and Jordanians together at the dialogue table."

Macron said to reduce the Iranian role in Iraq, "we enabled energy projects and financed some electrical interconnection projects with Jordan, and we maintained stability."

According to Macron, "last summer Iraq faced great danger," and he spent a long time with Iraqi officials on the phone to avoid escalating the situation.

"When the Jordanian King Abdullah II visited me in September in Paris, I convinced him to hold the Baghdad conference for the benefit of all. King Abdullah took the risk."

Macron deemed Al-Sudani's acceptance to attend the Baghdad Conference in Amman as "a victory for this agenda" since Iran supports him.

"There are vital projects for Iraq in water, electricity, gas, and economic development. We can help them, and they need to stop demanding Irani. But, this will not be resolved in one day."