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France warned US against dragging NATO into military operation in Gulf

27 June 2019 16:42 (UTC +04:00)

US and Iranian officials stepped up their verbal tirades against one another in the wake of last week's downed drone incident, with President Trump accusing Iranian leaders of being "not smart" and Iran's president calling the US's 'hostile' behaviour signs of the White House's 'mental retardation', APA reports citing Sputnik.

France asked the US not to drag the NATO alliance into any possible military operation in the Persian Gulf, diplomats familiar with the discussions have said.

According to the diplomats, French officials made the remarks during their closed-door meeting with US Acting Defence Secretary Mark Esper on Thursday. German representatives joined the French in calling for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal to be upheld.

Esper, it was said, told NATO allies that the US did not seek a conflict with Tehran, but would 'not tolerate' any further incidents following last week's shootdown of a $130 million drone by an Iranian air defence missile.

NATO defence ministers are holding the second day of meetings at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, with the talks discussing a range of issues including Iran, the scrapping of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, Turkey's purchase of advanced Russian air defence systems, and other subjects.