NEW YORK: France’s UN ambassador has urged the Houthis to halt their military escalation and commit seriously to peace talks, calling their actions in Yemen, against Saudi Arabia and against shipping in the Bab-Al-Mandab Strait “not acceptable.”

“The military option isn’t an option, and challenging the authority of a legitimate government through arms isn’t an acceptable option,” Jerome Bonnafont told Arab News in a wide-ranging interview at UN headquarters.

“What we demand from the Houthis is that they stop this escalation and commit seriously to the peace discussion and national reconciliation discussion with the special envoy of the secretary-general.”

Bonnafont also addressed the standoff in the Gulf, insisting that diplomacy with Iran must continue despite escalating tensions over the Strait of Hormuz, and as Paris works to shape what replaces the UN Interim Force in Lebanon when its mandate winds down on Dec. 31.

He praised Saudi Arabia as a “key partner” for France across the region, from the Israeli-Palestinian file to Lebanon and the Strait of Hormuz.

An international presence in southern Lebanon remains essential to back the authority of the state, Bonnafont said, adding that Lebanon’s ability to exercise full sovereignty over its territory hinges on two conditions: that no armed militia can threaten the authority of the country’s legitimate institutions, and that no foreign country occupies or strikes Lebanon.

“In order to reach this result, there are negotiations which are extremely important. There are national processes which are extremely important,” he said.

“A form of international presence and a UN authority is crucial to give the assurance that (Security Council resolution) 1701 remains the objective, and that the international community is backing the efforts of Lebanon toward peace internally and with its neighbors.”

Resolution 1701, adopted by the council in 2006 to end that year’s war between Israel and Hezbollah, calls for full Lebanese sovereignty over the south, the disarmament of groups outside state control, and deployment of the army alongside UNIFIL up to the border — the framework that France and other UNIFIL contributors say must survive the force’s withdrawal.

France, as Security Council penholder on Lebanon, has been weighing several options for a post-UNIFIL arrangement, including an initiative developed with Italy alongside a separate EU-led track.

Bonnafont pointed to the Aqaba Initiative, a Jordanian-led process on regional security cooperation, as a key building block.

A preparatory meeting held in Paris on Sept. 17, hosted by the French and Lebanese presidents alongside Jordan’s king, drew representatives of 17 countries and army chiefs from Lebanon, Jordan, Britain and France.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun used the gathering to press partners for a “roadmap” and timetable toward a full donor conference in support of the Lebanese army and internal security forces, calling it “an opportunity that may not come again.”

Bonnafont said: “Drawing on the conclusions of that conference, we’re preparing what’s going to follow after the end of the present mandate of UNIFIL, and how we’ll offer our partners on the Security Council a possibility for the international presence to remain in Lebanon, one way or another.”

Pressed on whether he believes an international force will ultimately stay in Lebanon given active US resistance, Bonnafont said: “We see members of the Security Council aware of the need not to create a vacuum in Lebanon at the time when we’re gathering energies to give a government and a president who have taken extremely courageous decisions vis-a-vis Hezbollah and vis-a-vis Israel, the possibility to do what they’ve committed to do, which is essential for peace in Lebanon and in the region.”

On the Gulf, Bonnafont said diplomacy with Iran remains possible despite continued escalation over the Strait of Hormuz.

“There’s always a role for diplomacy, and we believe that more than ever, diplomatic efforts are to continue,” he added.

France’s position is that the strait “has to be opened, freely open, without any obstacle to circulation,” he said, calling it vital for the regional economy and its people.

Paris, he added, is prepared to contribute to a “defensive, neutral mechanism” to accompany ships crossing the strait safely once a ceasefire takes hold.

Saudi Ambassador Abdulaziz Alwasil told a Security Council session hosted by France earlier this month that the council could not call for de-escalation while support continued to flow to the Houthis in Yemen.

The UN sanctions regime on Iran was reimposed last year after Tehran failed to meet its nuclear obligations, Bonnafont said — chiefly over its stockpile of enriched uranium, which he described as unexplainable under any peaceful civilian program, and its restrictions on access for International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors.

He added that the IAEA’s Board of Governors had just received a fresh report from the agency’s director general on Iran’s nuclear activities, calling it “a matter of great concern” that the Security Council will need to address.

Amid escalating Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, Bonnafont pushed back firmly on suggestions that the two-state solution is effectively dead.

He described the two-state solution as a principle affirmed by 142 states a year ago as the only path to durable peace between Israelis and Palestinians — one that secures Israel’s right to security alongside the Palestinians’ right to statehood.

He acknowledged the precariousness of the past year’s progress. In Gaza, he said, a ceasefire has taken hold but remains “extremely fragile” and requires sustained follow-through: humanitarian access, financing for reconstruction, the disarmament of Hamas, an Israeli troop withdrawal, and the gradual return of the Palestinian Authority.

“Gaza and the West Bank are part of Palestine, two sides of the same reality,” he said. In the West Bank, settlement expansion has accelerated alongside settler violence — a trend he said “has to be ending.”

France and Saudi Arabia co-convened a conference last year on the two-state solution, and Bonnafont returned to Riyadh’s role when asked about it directly, calling the Kingdom “a key partner” for France across the region’s files.

“The role of Riyadh is a key role in the region, and we enjoy a very deep partnership with Riyadh, as well as with other Arab countries, in order to promote peace and a diplomatic settlement,” he said, citing the Israeli-Palestinian question, Lebanon, Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.

France and other European countries have banned trade with Israeli settlements. Pressed on what further measures Paris might take, Bonnafont declined to offer specifics, saying Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and President Emmanuel Macron will be in New York this week and it is “respectful” to let them answer the question themselves.

On Syria, Bonnafont said accountability for crimes committed under the ousted Assad regime must go hand in hand with building a new, inclusive political system that represents all components of Syrian society.

The Security Council discusses the process monthly in direct exchanges with Syria’s UN representative, he added.

Beyond accountability, he pointed to three further benchmarks: economic reconstruction; national reconciliation and institution-building; and Syria’s capacity to be “a peaceful member of its regional surrounding.”

He said Damascus had sent “gestures of goodwill” toward Israel, Lebanon and its other neighbors, and it is important for the region to “respect, understand and support this new attitude.”

Pressed on who does not want to see Syria succeed, Bonnafont did not name names but stressed that France, whose president visited Syria in July and signed a series of agreements with the new authorities, trusts Damascus and the Syrian people to write this “new chapter” of the country’s history.

On Israeli strikes on Syrian territory, he said France had joined a call — initiated by Syria’s UN ambassador — for full respect of the country’s independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty. “It’s a key element for us,” Bonnafont added.