TEHRAN – A senior Iranian lawmaker has commented on remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron regarding Iranian influence in the region, saying the remarks were made out of desperation. 

The lawmaker, Abbas Moqtadaei, who is the deputy chief of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said that the French now have to change their policy on Iran out of desperation.

President Macron has recently said that problems on the West Asia region can only be resolved within a framework that includes Iran. 

“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,” he said on his way back to Paris from Amman, where a regional summit on Iraq took place. 

Commenting on President Macron’s remarks, Moqtadaei said, “Iran's regional position is a native, endogenous and regional issue, so it is not an issue that Westerners and their presidents have created in their words.”

He added, “In other words, as a result of the resistance of the Iranian people and the increasing growth of our country and all the deterring dimensions, not only France cannot create a break in the path of the growth of the Islamic Republic, but in order to be able to live in this region, it is forced to accept some things as reality despite its inner desire.

Moqtadaei made the remarks in an interview with the Iranian Parliament ICANA news agency. 

According to the Iranian lawmaker, President Macron's comments showed how scared he is of the future of Paris' relations with Asian countries.

He added, “As an emerging regional power, Iran has strong tools to create effective security grounds. Therefore, the French are now forced to change their policies due to their desperation, fear, and feeling of insecurity in the West Asian region.”

 Moqtadaei also said that France’s stated and practical polices are different. “Of course, it must be admitted that this action of the French is late because Iran has recorded the immorality of France, England, and Germany in its calculations of international relations. In the memory of the Iranian nation, their bad promises have remained.”

He stated, “The wall of mistrust between Iran and the three countries of France, England, and Germany has grown higher.”

The lawmaker concluded, “The French should know that stability and security in the West Asian region is the responsibility of the countries of this region and they cannot act with all kinds of conspiracies of the 19th century. Now international relations have changed and Asian countries are working together, and Western countries cannot have an imperialist approach.”

In his remarks, 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.

Iran’s state news agency IRNA has said that the French president's acknowledgment of the necessity of Iran's presence in regional talks is due to its influence in the region.

“The President of France acknowledges the importance of Iran,” it added.

The French president has recently attended the second edition of the Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership, which was held in the Jordanian capital Amman. 

Along with President Macron, officials from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait, Jordan, Qatar, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates attended the Baghdad conference II.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian represented Iran and delivered a speech at the summit.

On the sidelines of the Baghdad Conference II in Jordan’s capital Amman, Amir Abdollahian held a meeting with the EU’s Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrel. At the meeting, the key issues on the agenda of Iran and the EU, especially the state of the Vienna talks, were discussed by the two top diplomats, the Iranian foreign ministry said.