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A senior French political figure gave his support to the Iranian people on the eve of mass protest rallies planned in Tehran.

Bertrand Delanoë, the popular mayor of Paris and a prominent Socialist leader, wrote on his personal blog today that the West’s policy of extending a friendly hand must be directed at the Iranian nation, rather than the Islamic regime.

Delanoë had already publicly supported the Iranian protest movement in a piece posted early last month. ‘What is at stake is considerable,’ he wrote. ‘It is nothing less than a certain understanding of Man and the universality of his rights.[...] Today, I want to express my admiration to these unarmed crowds and my solidarity to this great and proud people, to the Iran of liberty.’

Delanoë’s new post comes a day before protesters are expected to rally on the streets of Iran, particularly Tehran, to voice their opposition on the occasion of the regime’s official celebrations of the 31st anniversary of the 1979 revolution. But it also coincides with the regime’s increasing intransigence on the nuclear issue

Delanoë believes that the policy of the ‘extended hand’ to resolve differences with the Islamic Republic has failed. ‘When the response to the extended hand is provocation, it is up to the democracies to show that they can bring the values of law to bear upon the blackmail of brutality.’