TERHAN – A Lebanese newspaper has slanted French President Emmanuel Macron’s remarks on Iran’s influence in the West Asia region during a summit in Jordan last week. 

The Annahar newspaper has said that President Macron acknowledged Iran’s influence in an interview with the Wall Street Journal and Le Monde on his way back to Paris from Amman. 
 
But the newspaper appears to have slanted Macron’s remarks as they were presented differently by Le Monde. 

Annahar claimed that Macron said the problems of Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria can only be solved through the framework of a dialogue aimed at “reducing Iran’s regional influence.”

“From the outset, I am convinced that we cannot find any solution to the problems of Lebanon, Iraq and Syria except within the framework of dialogue to reduce Iranian regional influence,” Annahar quoted the French president as saying. 

But Le Monde presented a different translation of Macron’s statements. According to Le Monde, Macron said, “I have been convinced from the beginning that the questions on Lebanon, Syria, and beyond can only be resolved if we find a framework for discussion including Iran, given its influence in the region.”

In other words, Le Monde did not quote Macron as calling for reducing Iran’s regional influence. 

Iran’s state news agency IRNA said Annahar slanted Macron’s remarks. It said that Macron admitted that Iran should be present in regional talks due to its influence in the region. 

“According to French media reports, the French president's acknowledgment of the necessity of Iran's presence in regional talks is due to its influence in the region,” IRNA said. “The President of France acknowledges the importance of Iran.”

However, Macron likened Iranian influence in the region to metastasis, saying it was his responsibility to reduce it. 

“The region looks with great resentment at the West after what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan and that is why they say to us: 'You don't have a lesson to give us'. So, one of the countries that was a pole of stability that you may not have liked, you changed its leadership and you didn't find anything better, you just let the Iranians metastasize, so it's your responsibility to reduce that metastasis,” Macron said, according to Le Monde.