FRANCE PERSPECTIVE

Paris, July 10, 2026. The French press is closely following the escalating exchange of strikes between the US and Iran. On the night of July 8-9, US Central Command (Centcom) announced that it had hit approximately 90 military targets in Iran, including air defense systems, in an effort to "degrade Iran's ability to threaten freedom of navigation" in the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran retaliated by striking US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, with the Revolutionary Guards citing drone and missile attacks.

The French government is monitoring the situation as the chronology of events unfolds: it began on Tuesday with shots attributed to Iran against Qatari and Saudi oil tankers in the strait, prompting US President Donald Trump, speaking from the NATO summit in Ankara, to declare the June 17 agreement "over." The US president described Iranian leaders as "sick" and stated that negotiating with them would be "a waste of time," while still allowing his emissaries to continue discussions - an ambiguity that is characteristic of his approach.

The human toll varies according to Iranian sources: some reports cite 17 dead and 93 injured, while others report 14 dead and 78 injured across five provinces. The strikes targeted Bandar Abbas, Bushehr - home to the country's only civilian nuclear power plant -, Chabahar, and Konarak, cutting off electricity and suspending the Tehran-Mashhad railway line just hours before the funeral of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

From an economic perspective, the French media is highlighting the surge in Brent crude oil prices, which rose from $78 to over $80 a barrel following Trump's comments, and the slowdown in traffic in the Strait of Hormuz according to the Kpler platform. Iranian negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that the waterway would only reopen under "Iranian terms," while Qatar and Pakistan are calling for respect for the June protocol.