'Do not intervene' in Iran, former French prime minister tells Euronews

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'Do not intervene' in Iran, former French prime minister tells Euronews  Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin told Euronews' flagship morning show Europe Today that foreign intervention in Iran "must find the right balance to not make things worse."  READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/01/12/do-not-intervene-in-iran-former-french-premier-tells-trump  Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages

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00:00So good morning, Monsieur de Villepin. Thank you so much for joining us from Paris live this morning.

00:05Great to have you with us. First, I want to talk to you about the EU-Mercosur trade deal.

00:09It got over the line on Friday, despite the opposition from France.

00:13Do you think France will still block it when the European Parliament vote takes place?

00:19Well, I think there is a very strong consensus here in France of all the political parties to

00:26refuse such an agreement based on the idea that there is not enough reciprocity in this

00:34agreement. So it's not a position against any kind of trade agreement. It's because for some

00:43groups in our country and mainly the farmers, we believe that the agreement has not reached the

00:51right point. And still, we should have been negotiating in order to better the agreement.

01:00But French opposition actually forced Brussels to pull out all the stops to convince Italy.

01:04So the agri sector has already gotten several concessions like advanced payments from the

01:09cap in the next budget and also reducing tariffs on imports of fertilisers. Is this not enough

01:13for France?

01:16Well, reciprocity means more because we see on the environmental side, we see on the health

01:27measures that we are still not yet able to protect our population and protect our farmers. So the consensus

01:36that we see politically is threatening the survival of the government. So it's a major issue, very symbolic

01:45of the kind of fight we want to deliver and also an expression of what we do expect from Europe. And even if

01:58the agreement has been negotiated for 26 years, we can see very clearly that all the elements have not been

02:07integrated and we did not find the right balance in a moment. And we must admit that where the worries of many

02:17groups like farmers is at a peak. So again, this is something that is created a lot of disturbances, a lot of

02:26worries. And we can see that. We've seen that on the streets of France, even though the commission

02:31would argue that the benefits for EU companies outweigh the risks for the French farmers. But I also

02:36want to talk about Iran. You've said that the EU must take their own initiative here rather than follow

02:41the US agenda. So what should Brussels be saying when it comes to Iran's future? What leverage do they have

02:46here? Well, what we see is a very severe crackdown on protesters. There is a changing position of the

02:58leadership in Iran. And we must find the right balance to not make things worse. And I think we are at a point

03:08where all around Iran, in every city, big cities, small cities, the protest is growing. This is a movement

03:18of the Iranian population against the Mola's regime. And any foreign intervention will create a new situation

03:31and give the possibility to the regime to even increase the repressive movement and policy.

03:40So that's your message then to Donald Trump? We know that behind the Mola's...

03:43Is that your message then to President Trump? Do not intervene?

03:46Do not intervene. Put as much pressure as you can. Try through dialogue and by any means to

03:57create a new situation that might create the awareness for the Iranian leadership in order to measure the

04:07consequences of their act. But what is at stake now is not only the Mola's. We know how important are the

04:15groups, the army, the Basigi, and also all the revolutionary gods. So we are not sure that even

04:26through an intervention, we might not create a situation of chaos that will be even worse than

04:32the situation today. So we must be very careful. The United States is already engaged in many different

04:39situation, many different theaters in Venezuela. Nothing has been achieved yet. And the people of

04:47Venezuela are still waiting for results. So being engaged in such a region like the Middle East,

04:55without knowing at all what would be the consequences, I think this would not be responsible.

05:01So seething the UN, having the Security Council involved, of course, this is a matter of worry for

05:08everybody, even Russia and China. They have a lot of interest in Iran. They have no interest in creating

05:14a chaos situation. So I think through dialogue, through awareness of everyone, through strong pressure,

05:23and there are many, many unofficial ways to pressure the Islamic government, I think that we might be in a

05:34position to halt and stop the current situation in Iran.

05:41Okay. Dominique de Vipan, thank you so much for joining us live from Paris this morning.

05:46Thank you. Great to have you with us.

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