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Iraq must not be drawn into ‘escalation’ – Macron

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Every effort must be made to avoid Iraq being sucked up into an escalation of the Middle East war, French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday after speaking with the head of the country’s autonomous Kurdistan region.

Macron posted his message on X after a deadly strike in northern Iraq against the former paramilitary group the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF).

“Everything must be done to avoid Iraq being drawn into the current escalation,” he said.

The PMF — now part of Iraq’s army but which includes some pro-Iran factions — said three of its fighters were killed in what it described as a US-Israeli attack.

Macron said he had told the Iraqi Kurdistan region’s President Nechirvan Barzani that he also viewed as “unacceptable” a drone attack against his official residence earlier Saturday.

“This very worrying development adds to a rise in attacks against Iraqi institutions, like those that left six eshmergas dead this week,” he said, referring to members of Kurdistan’s armed forces who were killed in an Iranian missile strike Tuesday.

Iran’s government fears armed Kurdish groups in northern Iraq could be sent in through its own Kurdish region, which is in the west, on the border with Iraq.

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Iran reports 3,468 dead in war with US, Israel

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April 19, 2026

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Iran’s state-run Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs said on Saturday that the war with the United States and Israel had killed more than 3,400 people in the Islamic republic.

The announcement comes in the midst of a two-week ceasefire in the conflict, which erupted in late February with US-Israeli strikes on Tehran.

Foundation head Ahmad Mousavi was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying that 3,468 “martyrs… fell during the recent conflict”.

A previous toll from the head of the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization issued on April 12 said 3,375 people in Iran had been killed in the war.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said on April 7 that at least 3,636 people had been killed, including 1,701 civilians — among them at least 254 children — as well as 1,221 military personnel and 714 people whose status had not been classified.

Due to reporting restrictions, AFP is not able to access the sites of strikes nor to independently verify tolls in Iran.

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Trump says ‘not a big fan’ of Pope Leo after his anti-war message

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April 13, 2026

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US President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday that he is “not a big fan” of Pope Leo XIV, after the global leader of Catholics made a plea for peace.

“I’m not a big fan of Pope Leo. He’s a very liberal person, and he’s a man that doesn’t believe in stopping crime,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

He accused the pontiff of “toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon.”

On Saturday, the 70-year-old American pope publicly implored leaders to end the violence, telling worshippers at St. Peter’s Basilica: “Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!”

US President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday that he is “not a big fan” of Pope Leo XIV, after the global leader of Catholics made a plea for peace.

“I’m not a big fan of Pope Leo. He’s a very liberal person, and he’s a man that doesn’t believe in stopping crime,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

He accused the pontiff of “toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon.”

On Saturday, the 70-year-old American pope publicly implored leaders to end the violence, telling worshippers at St. Peter’s Basilica: “Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!”

US President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday that he is “not a big fan” of Pope Leo XIV, after the global leader of Catholics made a plea for peace.

“I’m not a big fan of Pope Leo. He’s a very liberal person, and he’s a man that doesn’t believe in stopping crime,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

He accused the pontiff of “toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon.”

On Saturday, the 70-year-old American pope publicly implored leaders to end the violence, telling worshippers at St. Peter’s Basilica: “Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!”

 

Trump reiterated his comments to reporters with a post on Truth Social saying: “I don’t want a Pope who think it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.”

Washington and the Vatican have recently denied reports of a rift.

On Friday, a Vatican official denied reports that a top Pentagon official gave the church’s envoy to the United States a “bitter lecture” over Pope Leo’s criticisms of the Trump administration.

 

The story in the Free Press — which the Pentagon had already dismissed as “distorted” — reported that Cardinal Christophe Pierre was summoned in January to the Pentagon, where he was given a dressing-down by US Under Secretary of Defence for Policy Elbridge Colby.

The military official reportedly told the cardinal that the United States “has the military power to do whatever it wants — and that the Church had better take its side.”

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement, “The account presented by certain media outlets regarding this meeting does not correspond to the truth in any way.”

While both parties insist the meeting was cordial, the Holy See and the White House have openly been at odds over the Trump administration’s hardline mass deportation campaign — which the pope called “inhuman” — and the use of military force in the Middle East and Venezuela.

When Trump made genocidal threats against Iran on Tuesday, saying “A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again” — the pontiff slammed the “truly unacceptable” statement and urged parties to “come back to the table” for negotiations.

Earlier this month, Pope Leo hailed the news of a ceasefire between the United States and Iran as a “sign of real hope.”

But peace talks between the United States and Iran, held in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, ended abruptly Saturday with US Vice President JD Vance telling reporters after a marathon session of talks that Washington has delivered its “final and best offer.”

 

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China rejects claims of supplying weapons to Iran

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April 13, 2026

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China on Monday called reports it had supplied or intended to supply weapons to Iran “baseless smears”, after several outlets quoted US intelligence sources to that effect.

On Sunday, US President Donald Trump threatened Beijing with a “staggering” new tariff of 50 percent if it were to provide military assistance to Tehran.

His comments came the same day US outlet CNN reported that US intelligence indicated China was preparing to deliver new air defence systems to Iran within the next few weeks, citing three people familiar with the assessments.

Over the weekend, The New York Times quoted US officials as saying US intelligence suggested Beijing might have already sent a shipment of shoulder-fired missiles.

China denied the reports, saying Monday it had “always adopted a cautious and responsible attitude towards the export of military items, implementing strict controls in accordance with its own export control laws and regulations and its international obligations”.

“We oppose baseless smears or malicious association,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular news briefing.

China is a key economic partner of Iran — it buys most of the Middle Eastern country’s oil.

The countries have no formal military pact, though, and many analysts say Beijing largely sees the relationship between the two as transactional.

China also has strong economic ties to the Gulf countries and has criticised Iran’s attacks on them over the course of the war.

 

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