Paris stocks fell sharply on Tuesday, extending losses from the previous session, amid heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

At around 13:00 p.m. local time, the benchmark CAC 40 index was down 2.71 percent, or 227.75 points, at 8,166.57 points. On Monday, the CAC 40 had already closed significantly lower, down 186.43 points, losing 2.17 percent to end at 8,394.32 points.

The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday and the Trump administration has claimed that attacks on Iran could last weeks or even longer. Prevailing risk-averse sentiment triggered selling in the market.