<figure id="attachment_3254895" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3254895" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3254895" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/67a7206b-iran-protest-los-angeles-afp-12_01_26.webp" alt="" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3254895" class="wp-caption-text">Protests sparked by economic grievances erupted in Tehran on Dec 28 but turned into a mass movement demanding the removal of the clerical system. (AFP pic)</figcaption></figure>
PARIS: Military intervention in Iran, where authorities launched a deadly crackdown on protesters that killed thousands, is not France&#8217;s preferred option, its armed forces minister said Sunday.
&#8220;I think we must support the Iranian people in any way we can,&#8221; Alice Rufo said on the political broadcast &#8220;Le Grand Jury&#8221;.
But &#8220;a military intervention is not the preferred option&#8221; for France, she said, adding it was &#8220;up to the Iranian people to rid themselves of this regime&#8221;.
Rufo lamented how hard it was to &#8220;document the mass crimes the Iranian regime has carried out against its population&#8221; due to a widespread internet shutdown.
Iran&#8217;s more than 90 million people have been largely cut off from the internet since authorities imposed a blackout on Jan 8 amid major protests sweeping the country.
Under the cover of the blackout, they launched a violent crackdown on protesters, with rights groups documenting several thousand dead and the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights saying the final figure could top 25,000.
The Iranian government has put the toll at 3,117, including 2,427 it has labelled &#8220;martyrs&#8221;, a term used to distinguish members of the security forces and innocent bystanders from those described by authorities as &#8220;rioters&#8221; it claims were incited by the US and Israel.
&#8220;The Iranian people reject their regime. The fate of the Iranian people belongs to Iranians, and it is not for us to choose their leaders,&#8221; said Rufo.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to launch military strikes on Iran in response to the crackdown but has since appeared to walk back those threats after he said Tehran suspended planned executions.
Protests sparked by economic grievances erupted in Tehran on Dec 28 but turned into a mass movement demanding the removal of the clerical system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution.

MatchPoint Times

Military intervention in Iran ‘not the preferred option’, says French minister

Armed forces minister Alice Rufo said it was ‘up to the Iranian people to rid themselves of the regime’.

Applicants for PR identity cards, citizenship undergo strict vetting process, says JPN

‘Too early’ to talk about reinstating sacked reps, says PAS No 2