SAY ANYTHING: Macron blames US-Iran war for riots and rising fuel prices.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday blamed the U.S.-led war against Iran, in part, for the riots and looting sweeping across France, saying the conflict has driven up the cost of living and fuel prices. The remarks, made in a televised speech, drew sharp criticism from experts and from U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

Macron links protests to the Gulf conflict

Macron said the demonstrations reflected economic anxiety tied to the war. “Demonstrators expressed concern about the cost of living and the price of fuel. Both are driven by the conflict launched in the Persian Gulf, a conflict in which France has taken no part but whose consequences we are suffering,” he said.

He added that he understood the concern and noted it was being voiced in other European capitals as well. “That is why I have taken several initiatives at the international level to secure our fuel and our gas and to act on energy markets,” Macron said. He announced that he would travel to the Gulf on a three-nation trip to discuss the energy crisis.

I’m so old, I can remember when high gas prices was something the far left desired on both sides of the Big Pond. As Steven Chu, Obama’s then-incoming energy secretary, told the Wall Street Journal in the fall of 2008: “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.”