The United States and Australia said Saturday they regretted France's move to recall its ambassadors to their countries in an escalating rift among the allies over a new deal between the US, UK and Australia to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.

The Washington Post reported that Australia has established a strategic partnership with the United States and Britain, which includes, in particular, the delivery of American nuclear-powered submarines to Canberra.

The French were angered after a French company lost a contract to supply conventional attack submarines to Australia, which was signed in 2016 at a value of $36.5 billion.

The US state Department spokeswoman said the US regretted France's decision to recall the envoys and looked forward to engaging with France in the future on many issues of mutual interest, based on shared values.

An unidentified White House official also expressed regret over the French move, adding that they will engage in the coming days to resolve differences between them "as we have done at other points over the course of our long alliance."