Le Pen hammers Trump as Iran war triggers spiraling energy crisis

 

Le Pen hammers Trump as Iran war triggers spiraling energy crisis

 

The French far-right chief says “these strikes were carried out blindly,” in a fierce rebuke of U.S. preparation for Middle East turmoil.

 

March 31, 2026 7:57 pm CET

By Marion Solletty

https://www.politico.eu/article/france-far-right-national-rally-donald-trump-oil-energy-crisis/

 

PARIS — The National Rally is hitting out at U.S. President Donald Trump, the French government and large oil companies for variously causing and profiting from soaring energy prices due to the war in the Middle East.

 

The far-right party has pushed for lower taxes on gas and urgent market controls to shield consumers from the spiraling crisis, doubling down on its cost-of-living platform that has made it the front-runner for next year's presidential election under Marine Le Pen's leadership.

 

“Donald Trump clearly did not fully appreciate the impact of his intervention [in Iran]. In fact, it is becoming apparent that very little preparation was done,” Le Pen said in an interview with Le Parisien daily on Tuesday. “We therefore feel that these strikes were carried out blindly,” she added, pointing to the “catastrophic consequences” of the war on fuel prices.

 

After endorsing the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran in the first days of the war, Le Pen last week criticized Trump over his “erratic war goals” and his “mistake” in attacking Iran in an interview with France Inter radio.

 

Trump had initially reached out to Le Pen and the National Rally after taking office for a second term in January 2025, but the party has increasingly seen Washington’s embrace as damaging to its prospects in a country where Trump remains broadly unpopular.

 

Le Pen's top lieutenants have also criticized the French government in recent days for putting revenues from oil taxes over the interests of consumers, and for not doing enough to shield the public.

 

Party heavyweight Jean-Philippe Tanguy convened a press conference on Tuesday to highlight the National Rally's proposed measures, including cuts to energy taxes and "the establishment of temporary margin control to ensure that oil companies, distributors and all other players in the oil industry do not pocket these tax cuts."

 

He also criticized the French government for releasing part of France's strategic oil reserves to avoid a supply crunch, a measure coordinated with other G7 countries. France's strategic reserves are managed "in practice to align with oil companies' best interests," Tanguy said.

 

The push for energy tax cuts and market control measures reflects the party's longstanding strategy of positioning itself as the champion of the working class. But the fiscal costs of its proposals and its attacks on oil companies risk tarnishing its credentials on the economy and among the business community. That confidence will be crucial to winning over more centrist voters in the 2027 presidential election.

 

Tanguy's push comes after Marine Le Pen last week accused the government of "behaving like a profiteer in a crisis," noting its higher tax revenues linked to surging oil prices. The government has rejected tax cuts, saying they would aggravate France's already exorbitant budget deficit. The country is forecasted to overspend its 2026 revenues by the equivalent of around 5 percent of GDP.