Israel lost deterrence: spokesman 

May 3, 2023 - 22:40

TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Wednesday that Israel has lost its deterrence capabilities vis-à-vis the enemies. 

Kanaani made the remarks in reaction to a study by Tel Aviv University. 

“The Security Research Center of Tel Aviv University announced that Israel's deterrence power against its enemies has greatly decreased,” Kanaani said on Twitter. 

He added that the Israeli regime is “flimsier than a spider web.”

The spokesman also shared a viral video of a crow taking down the Israeli flag from a pole. 

Iran calls on France to listen to protestors

Kanaani has also reacted to angry protests in France, calling on Paris to listen to the voices of the protestors and avoid violence against them.

He said the French suppression of protests is regrettable. “The violent crackdown by the French police on citizens and workers who were holding protests on May Day is deeply regrettable,” Kanaani said on Twitter. 

He added, “We still advise the French government to listen to the voices of the protesters and avoid resorting to violence against them.”

Riot police in France fired tear gas to disperse protesters in the capital Paris and other major cities on the first day of May as public anger rages over Macron’s unpopular pension reform.

Media reports said police had detained a total of 291 people nationwide during massive French Labor Day demonstrations on Monday, 111 of whom were arrested in Paris, Press TV reported. 

The western city of Nantes and the central city of Lyon were also the scene of police violence on Monday as protesting workers and social activists, backed by labor unions, thronged the streets in their thousands to mark the first day of May.

The protesters pelted stones and projectiles at the riot police, smashed shop windows and damaged bus stops in response to the police firing teargas canisters.

In the northern city of Calais and the southern city of Toulouse, environmental activists and other groups fighting for economic justice were in the streets amid growing discontent with Macron’s policies.

According to France’s Interior Ministry, some 782,000 people protested across France on Monday for May Day in a new show of anger against Macron's contentious pension reform, including 112,000 in Paris alone.

The CGT union, however, said it counted 2.3 million protesters across France, including 550,000 in the capital. The turnout was massively higher than May Day last year.