French President Macron urges Iran's Raisi to 'immediately end' its support to Russia

French President Emmanuel Macron and Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi held a lengthy telephonic call on Saturday where the former urged Raisi to immediately withdraw Tehran’s support to Russia for its offensive in Ukraine in the form of providing Moscow with military drones.

Macron underlined  the serious “security and humanitarian consequences” of Iran’s drone deliveries “and urged Tehran to immediately end the support it thus gives to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”

The call between Macron and Raisi comes just a day after White House national security spokesman John Kirby said that Russia received materials from Iran to build a military drone factory that “could be fully operational by next year.”

The White House released a satellite image of the location of the prospective plant in the Alabuga special economic zone, some 900 kilometres (560 miles) east of Moscow.

“The Russia-Iran military partnership appears to be deepening,” Kirby said in a statement, citing US intelligence information.

White House has also alleged that Iran has provided Moscow with hundreds of military drones to attack Kyiv and “terrorise” Ukrainians, a claim that has been denied by Tehran.

US data suggests that the drones provided to Russia are manufactured in Iran and sent to Moscow via the Caspian Sea “and then used operationally by Russian forces against Ukraine,” Kirby said.

“The Russia-Iran military partnership appears to be deepening,” he added in a statement, citing US intelligence information.

The White House said it would release a new government advisory to assist businesses and governments “to ensure they are not inadvertently contributing to Iran’s (drone) program”.

With inputs from agencies

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