French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced Friday that his country has recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia for consultations due to the “exceptional danger” of the announcement of the strategic partnership between Washington, London and Canberra, which led to Australia canceling a huge contract to buy submarines from Paris.

“At the request of the President of the Republic, I have decided to immediately summon to Paris to consult our ambassadors to the United States and Australia,” Le Drian said in a statement. This exceptional decision is justified by the exceptional gravity of what Australia and the United States announced on September 15.”

On Thursday, Australia announced that it would cancel a $40 billion deal with France’s Naval Group to build a fleet of conventional submarines, and would instead build at least 8 nuclear-powered submarines with American and British technology after concluding a three-way security partnership.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian described the decision as a stab in the back.

On Thursday, Morrison said France had been informed of the decision before the announcement, but that Paris denied it.