French President Macron says Iran war has disrupted supply chains, driven transport costs tenfold and put pressure on France

French President Emmanuel Macron said the war involving Iran has severely disrupted transport and logistics, driving shipping costs sharply higher and increasing pressure on France’s energy supplies.

Macron made the remarks Wednesday, October 21, while speaking to reporters at the end of a Gulf tour focused partly on securing additional energy supplies for France.

“The great difficulty at the moment is the cost of transportation. It has increased tenfold,” Macron said. He said logistics chains had been “completely disrupted” by transport costs and the lack of guarantees and insurance.

Macron said France was doing everything possible to limit the impact, including releasing strategic reserves and securing available supplies. He cautioned that significant uncertainties remained and said France was also working diplomatically to help bring about peace.

“We said from the very first day that this was not our war, that we had not made this decision, and that peace and stability in the region were our priority,” Macron said. He reiterated that France remained firmly opposed to Iran acquiring a nuclear weapons capability.

Macron warned that the coming period could bring renewed tension because of Israel’s election and the U.S. midterm elections, saying diplomatic initiatives should be intensified to prevent tensions from developing into another escalation.

He also said France’s efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels were beginning to have an effect, noting that electric vehicles accounted for more than 40% of cars sold in September, compared with less than 5% in 2017.

Separately, Macron criticized Israel’s military presence in southern Lebanon, saying pressure on Lebanon was undermining its sovereignty and calling that approach “the worst way” to address Hezbollah.