ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani on Wednesday held a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron in which he said that suspects in a fatal drone strike on a French military presence near Erbil have been arrested.

A base housing both Kurdish and French forces in Makhmour, southwest of Erbil, was targeted in mid-March, leading to the death of Arnaud Frion, a French soldier, and the injury of several others, with the attack later being claimed by Ashab al-Kahf, an Iraqi pro-Iran militia.

In their phone call, Sudani spoke to Macron of "the efforts of the Iraqi security forces and their success in apprehending those involved in launching a drone attack that targeted a site near Erbil where members of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS were present, resulting in the death of a French officer."

"This reflects the state’s commitment to enforcing the law across all parts of Iraq," read a statement from the Iraqi premier's office.

The attack drew widespread international condemnation and came amid the extensive targeting of foreign interests and Kurdish Peshmerga forces by Iran-aligned factions following the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran launched in late February.

"This attack against our forces engaged in the fight against [ISIS] since 2015 is unacceptable," Macron said following news of the incident. "Their presence in Iraq is part of the strict framework of the fight against terrorism. The war in Iran cannot justify such attacks."

Erbil Governor Omed Xoshnaw at the time criticized Baghdad for failing to control Iran-affiliated factions in the country in the aftermath of the attack, saying, "This is all the movement of the terrorist militias in Iraq and we reiterate that the Iraqi government are not taking it seriously."

In the Wednesday phone call, Sudani and Macron also discussed the need to ensure the success of the two-week US-Iran ceasefire, with both sides expressing their position that the truce should also include Lebanon, where Israel has continued to strike Hezbollah targets unabated, putting the peace process at risk.

"Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire. That has been relayed to all parties involved in the ceasefire,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a press conference in which she hailed the supposed successes of the US military campaign.

Tehran’s ceasefire terms are "clear and explicit," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi said in response, noting that Washington should choose between a "ceasefire or continued war via Israel" and that the US cannot have both, he said in a post on X.