EASTORA REPORT | Emmanuel Macron says the anger that filled French streets this month did not begin with a tax, a pension reform or a decision taken in Paris. In his telling, it began hundreds of kilometers away — with the war in Iran and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
“The core of what triggered this purchasing-power crisis is the war in Iran, the blockade of Hormuz and the resulting rise in fuel prices,” Macron said in an interview with Hugo Travers of HugoDécrypte.
He argued that the unrest was driven by the sudden shock to household budgets rather than a new domestic reform. Fuel costs surged as the conflict disrupted shipping through one of the world’s most important energy routes, pushing the consequences of the war directly into everyday life in France.
The scale of the reaction caught the government off guard. Macron acknowledged that intelligence services badly underestimated the Oct. 17 demonstrations, expecting roughly half the turnout that eventually appeared. The Interior Ministry counted 550,000 people in the streets nationwide.
“The anger was underestimated by the intelligence services,” Macron said.
The demonstrations were initially driven by anger over the cost of living and student concerns, but in several cities they descended into clashes, looting and serious injuries. Macron described that escalation as a “collective failure” and called for calm from both protesters and police, while accusing some groups of deliberately seeking riots.
His explanation of the unrest places France’s domestic crisis inside a much larger geopolitical chain. A war Paris says it did not choose disrupted Hormuz, pushed up fuel prices and helped turn economic frustration into one of the country’s largest protest movements in years.
For Macron, the message is simple: the battlefield may be in the Middle East, but part of its political fallout is now on the streets of France.