Thank you for giving me the opportunity to outline the diplomatic track record of the first 100 days of François Bayrou's government.

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IRAN/FRENCH HOSTAGES

The seventh point in the record is the release of several French hostages. On 17 March, after months of active efforts and four conversations with my counterpart, we secured the release of Olivier Grondeau. It was an especially moving moment, shared by the nation's elected representatives during a tribute paid on 25 March to him and our two other compatriots, Jacques Paris and Cécile Kohler, who are still being held after more than 1,000 days.

To free them, we'll be stepping up the pressure on the Iranian regime. First of all, in the coming days, probably during the European Foreign Affairs Council on 14 April, we'll be adopting additional European sanctions against those Iranians responsible for the state hostages policy. Secondly, given the unacceptable violations of our two compatriots' right to consular protection, which are sadly just one aspect of their harsh conditions of detention, we'll be lodging a complaint against Iran with the International Court of Justice, for violating the right to consular protection.

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IRAN/NUCLEAR PROGRAMME

Our fourth area of work concerns the search for a binding agreement on Iran's nuclear programme. Despite the setbacks it has suffered in recent months - the heavy defeat of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime, Israel's aerial attack on its territory, a disastrous economic situation - Iran is continuing an agenda of destabilization, raising the stakes in its nuclear programme, which is reaching unprecedented levels, continuing its support for groups that destabilize the region such as the Houthis, supporting Russia's war in Ukraine by delivering drones and missiles, and a policy of state hostages.

Ten years after the conclusion of the Joint Plan of Action (JPoA), we remain convinced that Iran must never obtain a nuclear weapon. Our priority is to achieve an agreement that restricts its nuclear programme in a lasting and verifiable way. The window of opportunity is narrow: we have only a few months before the expiry of the JPoA, secured in particular thanks to French negotiators, to whom I pay tribute. In the event of failure, a military confrontation would become all but inevitable. Its cost would be very high, in that it would very badly destabilize the region. We've been doing everything to prevent that, for the past 10 years.

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