France will send troops and defence systems to Saudi Arabia to help protect the Red Sea port city of Yanbu, which is key for energy transport, French President Emmanuel Macron has said in a TV interview. He also denied a report by Spanish newspaper El Mundo that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had warned European governments of possible Russian drone attacks from the Mediterranean.
"We are going to send military resources, that is to say, soldiers, radar systems and defence systems, to protect this site – not to get us involved in any conflicts, but to protect this site," Macron told TF1 and France 2 on Thursday in a wide-ranging primetime interview on the international situation.
Crude oil prices have surged recently as the main alternative route for Saudi oil exports through Yanbu has come under missile attacks from Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis.
Facing growing pressure at home over high fuel prices, Macron sought to assure the French that France had adequate gas and oil supplies as winter approaches.
He said Paris was actively working to ensure flows were not disrupted.
On the subject of a 90-day US ban on diesel exports, under consideration by the White House but which Washington denies, the president said it would be "catastrophic," both globally and for the US economy.
“I think all the experts around [President Donald Trump] and all the American refiners can only tell him the same thing: 'this decision would be a bad one – not just for the rest of the world, but for the US economy as well.”
No CIA warning on potential drone attacks
President Macron also talked about possible Russian attacks on French soil.
He denied a report in Spanish newspaper El Mundo that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had warned European governments about the threat of potential drone attacks from the Mediterranean.
"I can deny it. The CIA did not inform French services," he said.
Macron nonetheless said Russia is multiplying hostile and criminal acts against European countries, and France could face strikes similar to the failed attack in Leipzig airport in August.
Germany has blamed the attack on Russia.
Growing Russian threat
Macron gathered French party chiefs at the Elysee last week to brief them on the growing threat from Russia. He later said he had ordered his government to draw up a plan to protect critical infrastructure against drone and cyber attacks.
Macron said Moscow was seeking to intimidate Europe and break the continent's resolve in supporting Ukraine.
On Monday France's interior minister said the hybrid warfare threat being waged by Russia is "real and documented".
Russia says European allegations of hybrid attacks are baseless and the result of anti-Russian hysteria.
Macron's position on Russia was weakened this week after France persuaded EU members to get Russian-Uzbek metals tycoon Alisher Usmanov exempted from EU sanctions, citing national security concerns.
That prompted Azerbaijan to pardon a French national jailed for espionage.
(with newswires)
