Macron to Rouhani: Avoid Escalating Tensions with the U.S.

Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, on the evening of Tuesday, April 9, called his Iranian counterpart and urged him to avoid escalating tensions over the designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a 'terrorist organization' by the U.S. In the same phone call, Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, defended the IRGC, stating that 'if it were not for the sacrifices of the IRGC forces, at least two countries in the region would have been under the control of ISIS.' The IRGC, with about 125,000 armed members, has extensive influence in the military and economic spheres of the Islamic Republic. Donald Trump, the President of the United States, described the IRGC on Monday as 'the main tool of the Iranian government in directing and executing an international terrorism campaign' and placed the entire organization on the list of 'foreign terrorist organizations.' One day later, in response to this action, Hassan Rouhani threatened to unveil more advanced centrifuges by 'inaugurating' several centrifuges, labeled the U.S. as 'the head of world terrorism,' and stated: 'The U.S. is still not willing to fight against ISIS and continues to shelter ISIS leaders.' He did not provide evidence for this accusation. According to a statement from the French presidency, Emmanuel Macron, in a recent phone call with Hassan Rouhani, asked him to 'avoid any escalation or instability in the region.' The Fars News Agency also reported that the Iranian president stated in this phone call that 'the will of the Iranian government is to maintain regional security and prevent the escalation of tensions.' Meanwhile, military officials of the Islamic Republic have expressed various threats against the U.S. military in recent days, and the Iranian Parliament has approved an urgent proposal to label U.S. military forces in West Asia as 'terrorists.' Following this trend, Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic, also threatened U.S. military personnel on Wednesday. According to Fars News Agency, Baqeri condemned the U.S. decision regarding the IRGC, stating that the Islamic Republic 'will certainly not remain silent against this foolish decision and will consider U.S. forces in the Southwest Asia region, known as CENTCOM, as terrorists, and if they make a mistake, we will deal with them decisively.' Macron also requested the release of Nasrin Sotoudeh, a human rights activist imprisoned in Iran, during his phone call with Rouhani. According to this report, the Élysée Palace announced that the French president conveyed his concerns regarding this case to his Iranian counterpart. No news has been published regarding Hassan Rouhani's reaction to this request. Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer and human rights defender imprisoned in Iran, recently reported that the Iranian judiciary has accused her of 'encouraging corruption and prostitution' for taking on the defense of the girls of the Revolution Street and sentenced her to 12 years in prison. Sotoudeh was previously arrested in September 2010 and spent three years in prison. This lawyer has been in prison since June 13 of this year. On March 14, Marlene Schiappa, a representative of France in a special women's committee at the United Nations, also mentioned Nasrin Sotoudeh, which provoked a strong reaction from the representative of the Islamic Republic.