Macron announces increase in French nuclear arsenal and threatens use to defend vital interests
French President Emmanuel Macron ordered expansion of France's nuclear warheads and warned of their use to protect national vital interests amid Middle East tensions.
18 min ago
French President Emmanuel Macron announced Monday that he has ordered an increase in France's nuclear arsenal and warned that the country will use nuclear weapons if vital French interests are at stake, amid what he described as a period of geopolitical rupture filled with risks and threats.
Speaking from the ÃŽle Longue naval base near Brest in Brittany, which houses France's four nuclear submarines, Macron stated that he will not hesitate to make necessary decisions to protect France's vital interests. "If we were to use our arsenal, no state, however powerful, could prevent it. None, however large, would recover," Macron said.
Macron ordered an increase in the number of nuclear warheads in France's force de frappe and announced that France will no longer publicly disclose quantitative data on its atomic arsenal. Officials said this strategic opacity is intended to complicate calculations by potential adversaries.
The French president outlined a new nuclear deterrence strategy he termed "advanced deterrence," which involves extending France's nuclear umbrella to allied European nations. Eight European countries have agreed to participate in the French proposal, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden, and Denmark. These nations would be able to host French strategic air forces as part of the arrangement.
Macron explained that the strategy aims to "spread across the entire European continent" to "complicate the calculations of adversaries." He emphasized that Europe must "take its destiny into its own hands" and that in a dangerous and unstable world, "to be free one must be feared."
The announcement comes two days after the start of a U.S. and Israeli offensive against Iran. Macron noted that Iran retains nuclear and ballistic capabilities that are far from dismantled, citing this as part of the context justifying a hardening of France's deterrence model.
Macron stressed that the new European nuclear deterrence scheme will be compatible with NATO's deterrence capabilities and will be developed with full respect for French sovereignty. He characterized the current period as one of "rupture" requiring a strengthening of France's deterrence model in response to multiple threats that can no longer be considered in isolation.
France currently possesses the fourth-largest nuclear arsenal in the world and is the only European Union member state with atomic weapons.