{"id":30976,"date":"2026-04-03T13:08:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T13:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=30976"},"modified":"2026-04-03T13:08:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T13:08:42","slug":"you-have-to-be-serious-macron-criticises-trumps-mixed-messages-about-nato-and-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=30976","title":{"rendered":"\u2018You have to be serious\u2019: Macron criticises Trump\u2019s mixed messages about NATO and Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Speaking in South Korea, the French president defended the transatlantic alliance and called for a return to peace<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emmanuel Macron has sharply criticised Donald Trump\u2019s inconsistent and often contradictory pronouncements on the Iran war and NATO, saying if \u201cyou want to be serious\u201d it was better not to come out with something different every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is too much talk \u2026 and it\u2019s all over the place,\u201d the French president said on Thursday during a state visit to South Korea. \u201cWe all need stability, calm, a return to peace \u2013 this isn\u2019t a show!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macron added: \u201cYou have to be serious. When you want to be serious, you don\u2019t go around saying the opposite every day of what you just said the day before. And perhaps you shouldn\u2019t talk every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macron also mounted a strong defence of Nato<\/a>, accusing Trump of undermining the transatlantic defence alliance through repeated remarks questioning the United States\u2019s commitment to its continued membership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe organisations and alliances like Nato are defined by what is left unsaid \u2013 that is, the trust that underpins them,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you cast doubt on your commitment every day, you erode its very substance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The comments follow mixed messages this week from the US president and others in Washington on the progress of the war, as well as criticism of European leaders for declining to back it and suggestions that the US may leave NATO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has suggested variously that the war was as good as won and the US did not need the support of its allies; that he expected allies to join the US military operation; and that they should act alone and \u201cgo get their oil\u201d in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said this week at a private White House lunch that NATO had \u201ctreated us very badly\u201d and \u201cwill be treating us badly again if we ever need them\u201d. In comments to Reuters, he said he was\u00a0\u201cabsolutely without question\u201d considering leaving<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told the Daily Telegraph that a US exit was \u201cbeyond consideration\u201d, calling the organisation a \u201cpaper tiger\u201d, and has elsewhere criticised the defence alliance for its reluctance to support the month-old war, labelling its members \u201ccowards\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, this week also suggested the US would \u201cre-examine\u201d whether the alliance was still serving US interests, while Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary, declined to confirm the US would defend Nato allies in the event of an attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Marco<\/a>
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, suggested this week that the US would \u2018re-examine\u2019 its involvement in the Nato alliance. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski\/AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

NATO\u2019s secretary general, Mark Rutte, is to visit Washington next week to try to repair relations, and other European leaders have defended the alliance, with the UK\u2019s Keir Starmer calling it \u201cthe single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two US senators, Republican Mitch McConnell and Democrat Chris Coons, said in a joint statement late on Wednesday that the Senate would \u201ccontinue to support the alliance for the peace and protection it provides\u201d<\/a> for the US, Europe and the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While Trump did not mention NATO in an address to the nation on Wednesday night, the repeated remarks from Washington have further strained transatlantic relations already damaged by the US president\u2019s attempted Greenland grab in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poland\u2019s prime minister, Donald Tusk, said on Thursday that Trump\u2019s repeated threats to withdraw from NATO, along with the prospect of a \u201cmassive\u201d energy crisis in Europe and other factors, all looked like a \u201cdream plan\u201d for Russia\u2019s president, Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EU diplomats said Trump\u2019s increasingly frequent attacks on NATO were \u201cnothing very new\u201d and largely reflected \u201cthe difficulty of the situation he\u2019s landed himself in. One official said they would start to worry \u201cwhen the paperwork actually goes in\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congress passed legislation in 2023 that would prevent any president from pulling out of NATO without its approval. NATO\u2019s mutual defence clause requires all members to respond to an attack on one, but does not imply support for a unilateral offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many EU leaders are under political pressure over the war, which is deeply unpopular in Europe and has sparked a surge in energy prices and rising inflation since\u00a0Iran<\/a>\u00a0effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, which carries about one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump said on Wednesday he may end the war without a deal and told countries that rely on fuel shipments through the strait to \u201cjust grab it\u201d. European and other states have said they will only help secure the strait if there is a ceasefire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With pressure growing, about 40 countries on Thursday explored ways to restore freedom of navigation to the waterway during online talks. The UK, which convened the talks, said they were focused on diplomatic and economic tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

France said the process would be multi-phased and could not begin until hostilities had calmed or ended. \u201cIt can only be done in consultation with Iran,\u201d Macron said, adding that Paris considered a military operation to free the strait \u201cunrealistic\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macron, who said remarks by Trump poking fun at the French president\u2019s marriage were \u201cneither elegant nor up to standard\u201d and did not \u201cmerit a response\u201d, also said US and Israeli strikes would not resolve the issue of Tehran\u2019s nuclear programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA targeted military action, even for a few weeks, will not allow us to resolve the nuclear issue in the long term,\u201d he said. \u201cIf there is no framework for diplomatic and technical negotiations, the situation can deteriorate again in a few months.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran\u2019s armed forces responded to Trump on Thursday with a warning for the US and Israel of \u201cmore crushing, broader and more destructive\u201d attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The war will continue until the \u201cpermanent regret and surrender\u201d of Iran\u2019s enemies, said Ebrahim Zolfaqari, the spokesperson for the Iranian military\u2019s Khatam al-Anbiya central headquarters, in a statement carried by Iranian media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump said in his address on Wednesday that the US was \u201cvery close\u201d to achieving its objectives, but attacks would intensify and Iran would be brought \u201cback to the stone ages, where they belong\u201d unless Tehran agreed to a negotiated settlement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMessages have been received through intermediaries, including Pakistan, but there is no direct negotiation with the US,\u201d Iran\u2019s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baqaei, was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference Link:- https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/apr\/02\/you-have-to-be-serious-macron-criticises-trumps-mixed-messages-about-nato-and-iran<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Speaking in South Korea, the French president defended the transatlantic alliance and called for a return to peace Emmanuel Macron has sharply criticised Donald Trump\u2019s inconsistent and often contradictory pronouncements on the Iran war and NATO, saying if \u201cyou want to be serious\u201d it was better not to come out with something different every day. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[307,160,299,176,1833,28379,28378,28376,28377],"class_list":["post-30976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-france","tag-geoplitics","tag-iran","tag-nato","tag-president-trump","tag-mis-guiding-statements","tag-misleading-statements","tag-president-marcon","tag-trumps-statement-regarding-nato-iran","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30976"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30978,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30976\/revisions\/30978"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}