BSS
  10 Jun 2023, 23:46

Macron urges Iran to stop backing Russia in Ukraine

     
PARIS, June  10, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - French President Emmanuel Macron on 
Saturday urged his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi to "immediately end" 
Tehran's support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which involves supplying 
Moscow with attack drones, the Elysee said.
       
Macron in a telephone call 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", said a statement.
       
The call came a day after White House national security spokesman John 
Kirby said Russia was receiving materials from Iran to build a drone factory on 
its territory that "could be fully operational early 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.
       
The United States has said that Russia has received hundreds of Iranian 
attack drones to attack Kyiv and "terrorise" Ukrainians, a charge denied by 
Tehran.
      
 According to US data, the drones are built in Iran, shipped across the 
Caspian Sea "and then used operationally by Russian forces against Ukraine", 
Kirby said.
      
 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".