In a post on his X account on Saturday, Araqchi cited the large number of Algerians killed during the country’s war of independence and criticized Barrot for silence over the killing of Iranian schoolchildren by the US during the recent US-Israeli war of aggression.
“1.5mn Algerians were slaughtered by France in their War of Independence. Less than 1/10 of them have been recorded by Paris, which refuses any apology for its colonial crimes,” Araqchi wrote.
“Stop your crocodile tears Jean-Noël Barrot. Your silence when the US massacred our schoolkids said it all,” he added.
France invaded Algeria in 1830 and ruled the Muslim country as a colony until Algeria won independence in 1962. The eight-year Algerian War of Independence, from 1954 to 1962, involved extensive fighting, mass displacement and the use of torture by French forces.
Estimates of Algerian deaths vary considerably: Algerian historians and the National Liberation Front (FLN) put the figure at about 1.5 million, while other historical estimates are lower. More than 2 million Algerians were also forcibly relocated or displaced during the conflict.