The tension in the Middle East is easing, but the ceasefire agreement remains “fragile,” according to the Trump administration. Last night, the United States and Iran agreed, through Pakistan, to a two-week ceasefire in exchange for a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. This announcement came just over an hour before the expiration of Donald Trump’s ultimatum to destroy Iran.
Just minutes before the questions to the government on April 8, the President (LR) of the Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces Committee in the Senate is very cautious about the implications of this event. “We must not believe that just because we have ceased fire for 15 days, everything will return to a normal situation […] Control of the Strait of Hormuz will be a crucial issue. If the Iranians achieve their goals and turn this strait, which is partly in international waters, into a strait that they completely control, in which they decide whether or not to allow free circulation, then they will have won,” said the senator from the Territory of Belfort.
Fears for Lebanon’s fate
This major aspect of the “deal” desired by Donald Trump leads him to say that things are “rather badly handled”. “The United States has handled this crisis in a catastrophic way that is not over,” he considers.
Especially in the Middle East, the fighting is far from over, despite Lebanon being included in the ceasefire announced by Pakistan. This Wednesday, Israel said it carried out its “largest coordinated strike” against Hezbollah since February 28. “Today, with Israelis being relieved from their action towards Iran, they will be able to concentrate all their forces on Lebanon, which is not necessarily good news for the Lebanese,” worries the senator. For him, international pressure to end military operations is a “necessity.”
“Relief” after the release of Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris
The President of the committee also expressed his “emotion” after the release and return of the two former French hostages in Iran, Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris. “It’s a relief, it’s good news after three and a half years of captivity to see them return,” he said, praising the “multitude of interventions, from the President of the Republic to Oman.”
According to Tehran, France would have committed at the same time to grant freedom to the Iranian national Mahdieh Esfandiari, sentenced on February 26 by the Paris criminal court to four years in prison, one of which is firm, for glorifying the Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023, on social media and calling for attacks against the Jewish community in France. “We can imagine that the simultaneous release of the two is not a coincidence. There must have been something, but the main thing is that they are free,” he continued.
This Thursday, the Foreign Affairs Committee will question the French Ambassador to Iran, “to find out a little more about the conditions” of this release, and more broadly about the situation in the country.
