Macron told foreign diplomats in Paris today that change in Iran must come from the Iranian people, not from abroad, distancing himself from U.S. President Donald Trump's encouragement of protesters.
Macron added that "our role is to be on the lookout, demanding, scrupulous" to ensure that protesters' rights are not abused.
Amateur video appeared to show protests continuing in Iran on the evening of January 3, despite the government saying the uprising had ended after a week of unrest.
RFE/RL cannot independently verify the authenticity of the video clips.
'42,000' people took part in protests
Iran's interior minister is saying at most some 42,000 people took part in the week of protests, reports reformist daily Shargh.
Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said in a statement today that the figure was "based on precise statistics we have."
Fazli said the protests have lasted for so long because of the "leniency, restrain, tolerance and interaction" of the government.
Iran situation 'to stabilize' by weekend
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said Iranian President Hassan Rohani assured him that the situation in Iran will "stabilize within a day or two, there's no need to be worried." Erdogan said Rohani told him the situation "would be back to normal by the weekend."
'Neither a revolution nor a political movement'
Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group:
"Manifold reasons lie behind Iran’s ongoing protests, but the immediate trigger appears to be widespread disgruntlement over the country’s economic performance, especially cuts in President Hassan Rohani’s new budget. Neither a revolution nor a political movement, the crisis is an explosion of the Iranian people’s pent-up frustrations over economic and political stagnation."
Telegram Outage
The government has blocked popular messaging app Telegram since protests began last week. Protesters have used the app to organize their demonstrations and share footage.
Families of some of the protesters arrested in the past week have gathered outside Tehran's Evin prison for the fifth consecutive day, the BBC reports.