French President Emmanuel Macron ordered an increase in the country's nuclear warhead stockpile and vowed he would not flinch if the country’s “vital interests” were threatened, in a landmark speech from a ballistic-missile submarine base in north-western France, Euronews reports.
“I have ordered an increase in the number of nuclear warheads in our arsenal,” the president said.
“We will no longer disclose the size of our nuclear arsenal, unlike in the past.”
“I will never hesitate to take the decisions that are essential to protect our vital interests. If we were to use our arsenal, no state could avoid it," Macron said in one of the strongest lines of the address.
France has an estimated 290 nuclear warheads, according to the latest figures released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The speech comes as European security is being tested on multiple fronts, from Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine to the expanding Iran war.
French officials had underlined that the address was planned well in advance and remained on schedule despite the escalating Middle East conflict.
