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French police stopped an apparent bomb attack outside a US bank in Paris early Saturday when they arrested a man about to set off a homemade explosive device, officials and sources close to the case told AFP.
The incident occurred around 3:30 am (0130 GMT) in front of a Bank of America building in the chic 8th arrondissement, a couple of streets from the Champs-Elysees.
Police grabbed the man just after he placed a device, made of five litres of liquid (1.3 gallons), believed to be fuel, and an ignition system, one of the sources said.
The ignition component had 650 grams (23 ounces) of explosive powder in it, according to an initial assessment. The whole device was taken to the Paris police’s forensics lab for full analysis.
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France’s counter-terrorism prosecutor’s office told AFP it had immediately taken over the investigation, and confirmed the suspect caught was in police custody.
It said the probe it has launched was into “attempted damage by fire or other dangerous means in connection with a terrorist undertaking” and a “terrorist criminal conspiracy”.
Both the Paris judicial police and France’s domestic intelligence service, the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI), were involved in the probe, the office told AFP.
France’s interior minister, Laurent Nunez, on X hailed the speedy action by the police officers, given “the current international situation”, in which European countries have increased domestic vigilance because of the war in the Middle East.
Nunez said that, in France, “vigilance remains more than ever at a high level”.
US-Israeli strikes hit two Iranian nuclear facilities on Friday, as America’s top diplomat left a meeting with his G7 counterparts to declare that Washington expects its military operation to prove victorious within a couple of weeks.
Iran threatened retaliation against industrial sites in the region, with no clear end to the conflict in sight and oil and stock markets still in turmoil over the fallout from the fighting, including the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
“When we are done with them here in the next couple weeks, they will be weaker than they’ve been in recent history,” Rubio told reporters in Paris after G7 talks.
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Rubio also said that he had won support from his G7 colleagues to oppose Iran’s attempts to impose a toll on ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz, a key sea lane for oil and gas shipments from the Gulf.
“Not only is this illegal, it’s unacceptable, it’s dangerous to the world, and it’s important that the world have a plan to confront it,” Rubio said.
In a joint statement, the G7 foreign ministers “reiterated the absolute necessity to permanently restore safe and toll-free freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz” and called for “an immediate cessation of attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure”.
Iran had sent “messages” to the American side but had not responded to a US-proposed peace plan, Rubio said.
Iranian media reported a US-Israeli attack on the Khondab heavy water complex in central Iran, citing a local official, while the country’s atomic energy agency said a uranium processing plant 600 kilometres away in Ardakan was also hit.
Israel’s army confirmed that it struck the two facilities, while the Iranian sources said there was no release of radioactive material at either site.
Two steel plants, Khuzestan in southwest Iran and Mobarakeh in the country’s centre, were also hit, drawing threats of retaliation.
Iran “will exact (a) HEAVY price for Israeli crimes,” Tehran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X, adding that the attack “contradicts (Donald Trump’s) extended deadline for diplomacy”.
Trump has insisted the Islamic republic wants to “make a deal” and extended a deadline for Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz or face the destruction of its energy assets from Friday to April 6.
Meanwhile Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned that they would strike industrial sites in the region in response to the attacks.
The Guards warned civilians working in such plants to “leave their workplaces immediately”, having earlier issued similar warnings to those living near American military bases and hotels hosting US troops.
Iran has reportedly replied to a 15-point US plan with its own demands, including war reparations and recognition of its sovereignty over Hormuz.
