Emmanuel Macron told Donald Trump that the Iran war was a “grave error” during blunt exchanges on the two presidents’ personal unsecured telephones, according to French reports.
The French president delivered the rebuke after Trump complained that France and other Nato allies had failed to join the US-Israeli offensive against Tehran or help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The row emerged as the White House confirmed that Trump would attend next month’s G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, the French Alpine lakeside resort where leaders are due to gather from June 15 to 17.
Even though he privately sparred with the US president, Macron has been mounting a Gallic charm offensive to woo him to France, including the offer of a private dinner at the Palace of Versailles, extended to no other world leader.
The “sumptuous dinner” at the gilded 17th-century palace built outside Paris by Louis XIV, as reported by Reuters last month, is slated for after the G7 summit and will be held against the backdrop of next year’s 250th anniversary of the United States.
