PARIS, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a military alliance concerned with the security of territories in the Euro-Atlantic area and is not intended to carry out operations in the Strait of Hormuz, French Minister Delegate for the Armed Forces Alice Rufo said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the War and Peace Forum in Paris, Rufo said NATO is not intended to carry out coercive operations in the Strait of Hormuz, which would breach international law.
Her remarks came after U.S. President Donald Trump's statement that he is strongly considering pulling the United States out of NATO after the alliance failed to join the attacks on Iran. He also described the alliance as "a paper tiger," British newspaper The Telegraph reported on Wednesday.
Regarding the Middle East tension, Rufo said French peacekeepers operating in Lebanon have been subjected to "absolutely unacceptable intimidation," adding that she had previously traveled to Lebanon to express solidarity with Indonesian and French peacekeepers working there.
The minister also said on social media platform X that the safety of peacekeepers, who work every day toward de-escalation, must be fully guaranteed.
Cross-border fighting between the Israeli military and Hezbollah along the Lebanon-Israel border has intensified since March 2. Earlier this week, three Indonesian peacekeepers were killed in two separate incidents in southern Lebanon, where Israel is accelerating its airstrikes and military operations on the ground. ■
