France's position on social unrest in Iran is based on American intelligence data, Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib told IRNA.

According to him, French President Emmanuel Macron tried his best to cover up the failure of his domestic policy by taking an aggressive stance toward Iran.

"Macron's anti-Iran stance also serves his ambition to get concessions from the United States on other international issues, including France's relations with the rich Arab Gulf states," he said, adding that other European powers, including Germany, also pay lip service to the United States when it comes to Iran. "This means that the Americans have taken Europe, specifically France and Germany, hostage," the minister said, adding that European powers have lost their traditional sense of independence from Washington.

Khatib noted that Iran has documents proving that the United States has used its influence over the Persian Gulf Arab states to prevent them from engaging in lucrative arms and trade deals with Europeans. He also said that Macron's tough stance on Iran was influenced by Tehran's detention of two French intelligence officers. According to him, the latter's secret mission was to carry out sabotage in Iran. He noted that Tehran could reveal more details about the mission if France continued to be hostile to the country.