{"id":48629,"date":"2026-04-29T03:34:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T03:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/48629\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T03:34:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T03:34:39","slug":"macron-orders-a-nuclear-powered-aircraft-carrier-to-move-from-the-baltic-to-the-mediterranean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/48629\/","title":{"rendered":"Macron orders a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to move from the Baltic to the Mediterranean"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARIS (AP) \u2014 French President Emmanuel Macron<\/a> on Tuesday ordered France\u2019s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to move from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean to help protect allied assets during the war in the Middle East<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Macron said the Charles de Gaulle carrier will be escorted by frigates and its air wing. In a prerecorded speech on French TV, Macron added that Rafale fighter jets, air-defense systems and airborne radar systems have been deployed over the past few hours in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we will continue this effort as much as necessary,\u201d Macron said. <\/p>\n

France, the U.K. and Germany have previously said that they weren\u2019t involved in the strikes on Iran by the United States and Israel that began late last week, but were prepared to take defensive action to destroy Iran\u2019s capability to fire missiles and drones.<\/p>\n

Macron, however, said that French forces had shot down drones \u201cin legitimate self-defense in the very first hours of the conflict, to defend the airspace of our allies, who know they can rely on us.\u201d He did not elaborate.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"French<\/p>\n

French President Emmanuel Macron with members of the army at the end of his speech at the Nuclear submarines Navy base of Ile Longue in Crozon, France, Monday March 2, 2026. (Yoan Valat\/Pool Photo via AP)<\/p>\n

French President Emmanuel Macron with members of the army at the end of his speech at the Nuclear submarines Navy base of Ile Longue in Crozon, France, Monday March 2, 2026. (Yoan Valat\/Pool Photo via AP)<\/p>\n

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In explaining the need to move France\u2019s aircraft carrier, Macron cited Monday\u2019s strike on a British air force base on Cyprus<\/a>, adding that Cyprus was a member of the European Union with which France has recently signed a strategic partnership. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis requires our support,\u201d Macron said.<\/p>\n

Macron also said that France has defense agreements binding the EU nation to Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as strong commitments to Jordan and Iraq. <\/p>\n

Noting that the war had spread to Lebanon, Macron said the Iran-backed militant Hezbollah group made \u201cthe grave mistake of striking Israel\u201d and putting the Lebanese people in danger but warned against Israel launching a ground operation. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis, too, would be a dangerous escalation and a strategic error,\u201d he said. \u201cHezbollah must imperatively cease all strikes, and I call on Israel to respect Lebanese territory and its integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting France\u2019s traditional support for rules\u2011based international order, Macron noted that France \u201ccannot approve\u201d of the strikes by Israel and the U.S. on Iran because they were carried outside of the framework of \u201cinternational law.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it would it be \u201cdesirable\u201d to end the strikes as quickly as possible, and that lasting peace in the region can only be achieved through the resumption of diplomatic negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I also wish here to express the hope that the Iranian people may themselves freely decide their own destiny,\u201d Macron added. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat said, history never weeps for the executioners of their own people, and none of them will be mourned,\u201d he said in reference to the killings of Iran\u2019s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/a> and other Iran top officials.<\/p>\n

Macron also insisted on Iran\u2019s responsibility for the conflict. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is Iran that developed a dangerous nuclear program and unprecedented ballistic capabilities; that armed and financed terrorist groups in neighboring countries\u2014Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, Shiite militias in Iraq\u2014and that supported Hamas, while always affirming its objective of destroying the State of Israel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS (AP) \u2014 French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday ordered France\u2019s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to move from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[3462,30312,8274,1615,242,939,16987,245,10700,1665,2903,2618,34,3963,197,303,2507,9779,4128,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-48629","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-emmanuel-macron","8":"tag-ali-khamenei","9":"tag-charles-de-gaulle","10":"tag-drone-surveillance-and-warfare","11":"tag-drones","12":"tag-emmanuel-macron","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-fires","15":"tag-france","16":"tag-france-government","17":"tag-general-news","18":"tag-germany-government","19":"tag-hezbollah","20":"tag-iran","21":"tag-iran-government","22":"tag-iran-war","23":"tag-middle-east","24":"tag-military-and-defense","25":"tag-military-technology","26":"tag-war-and-unrest","27":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116485899145527723","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}