French President Emmanuel Macron is channeling the atomic spirit of his predecessor Charles de Gaulle with orders for the French military to “increase the number of nuclear warheads” in the nation’s arsenal.
Macron announced the seismic shift in France’s defensive posture during a speech at the Ile Longue naval base on Monday, adding that his government will no longer be communicating the extent of French nuclear capabilities moving forward.
“In order to be free, we must be feared — and in order to be feared, we must be powerful,” Macron said. “This increase in our arsenal reflects that approach.”
“This is not an arms race,” the president warned. “It is essential that our adversaries, or combination of adversaries, cannot even glimpse the possibility of hitting France without the certainty of suffering damage they would not recover from.”
Macron’s rhetoric — emphasizing self-reliance to maintain sovereignty in the age of nuclear weapons — harkens back to the doctrines of De Gaulle, the general who led Free French Forces during World War II and led the nation in its aftermath.
De Gaulle doubted the reliability of international alliances in ensuring national security, famously questioning whether the nuclear-armed United States “would be ready to trade New York for Paris” amid the Cold War. It was this thinking that spurred France to become one of the world’s nuclear powers.
While Macron was announcing France’s new atomic age, the French aircraft carrier named after the general was on its way to aid Western-aligned allies in the conflict against Iran.
France voiced discontent with the U.S. and Israel in the hours following strikes against the Islamic Republic, warning that the operations would undermine regional stability and run counter to international consensus.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot maintained this posture on Monday despite the country’s entry into the conflict, rebuking the U.S. and Israel for their “unilateral” actions that lacked the “necessary legitimacy” France believes can only be obtained “by going before the [United Nations] Security Council.”
Instead, Barrot offered condolences to “allied countries that have been deliberately targeted by the missiles and drones of the [Iranian] Revolutionary Guards and dragged into a war they did not choose.”
HOW THE IRAN CONFLICT WAS LAUNCHED: ‘OPERATION EPIC FURY IS APPROVED. NO ABORTS. GOOD LUCK’
“Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Jordan — France expresses its full support and complete solidarity,” Barrot said. “It stands ready, in accordance with the agreements that bind it to its partners and with the principle of collective self-defense provided under international law, to take part in their defense.”
France’s entry into the conflict is concurrent with the militaries of Germany and the United Kingdom, opening channels for joint operations and offering access to defense infrastructure in the region.
