Craig and Lindsay Foreman, in Isfahan, before being detained by the Iranian police (Picture: AFP)

A British couple have finally been allowed to speak with their family for the first time in 213 days after being charged with espionage in Ir…

Vladimir Putin has pulled back the curtain on what has been described as the ‘largest and most secret’ drone factory ahead of a joint naval drill with Iran.

Footage – a blend of Cold War secrecy and TikTok-era propaganda – offers a rare glimpse of the Yelabuga production facility in the Russian republic of Tatarstan.

Recorded by Zvezda, the Russian defence ministry’s TV channel, it shows the star of Putin’s war in Ukraine – the ‘Geran-2’ drones.

This is the Kremlin’s locally branded version of Iranian-designed Shahed 136.

Depending on the design, the long-range exploding aircraft has a range of 600 to 1,200 miles, and has been deployed to cause carnage across Ukraine.

Timur Shagivaliev, CEO of the Yelabuga Special Economic Zone, told the channel: ‘This is the largest such plant in the world and the most secret.

‘At one time, the plan was to produce several thousand (Geran drones) – now we are producing nine times more than planned.’

As part of its efforts to scale up development of drones to catch up with Ukraine, Russia now produces more than 5,000 long-range drones each month.

Above the entrance to the factory, a giant screen read, ‘Kurchatov, Korolyov and Stalin are living in your DNA,’ featuring portraits of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, Soviet nuclear physicist Igor Kurchatov and the father of the Soviet space programme Sergei Korolev.

But perhaps the most surreal detail is not the scale of the drone operation at Yelabuga and who is building them.

Teenagers – some barely old enough to drive – have bee recruited to work on the assembly lines at the factory.

They are shown working at various stages of the production process, highlighting a recruitment programme targeting students as young as 15 from local technical colleges.

‘There are young people, boys and girls, both working here and studying here in the college created by the same people who organised the production of Gerans,’ a voiceover in the Zvezda video says.

‘They invite schoolchildren here immediately after the ninth grade [aged 15 and 16], and after college they invite them to the plant.

‘Vladimir Putin has noted the experience of Yelabuga and even called for its replication.’

The drone production – using modified Shahed 136 technology – is another sign of the deepening cooperation between Russia and Iran.

Bonded over mutual hatred for the West and shared isolation, both nations have traded military technology and intelligencesince the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

To underscore this relationship further, the two have launched a joint naval drill in the Caspian Sea.

The CASAREX 2025 will be held under the slogan ‘Together for a Safe and Secure Caspian Sea’ and will take place over three days.

The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported: ‘The primary goal of the operation is to reinforce maritime safety and security while fostering greater cooperation among the naval forces of these countries.’

It is still unclear what vessels will be involved in the operation, but the Caspian Sea hold major strategic importance for both Russia and Iran as a secure, sanctions-free zone, away from Western eyes.

It also serves as a vital logistics and trade corridor, linking both nations.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (Picture: ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock)

People in the UK are now at threat of physical attacks as much from Iran as from Russia, a major report has found.

Parliament’s Intelligence and Se…

In a Hollywood-style trailer the Houthis board the Magic Seas cargo ship before blowing it up

Vladimir Vitikov has refused to apologise to the boy’s parents after throwing him to the ground.

The funeral was being held for 60 dead, including four women and four children.

The funeral was being held for 60 dead, including four women and four children.

President Donald Trump claimed he saved Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from being killed and that he deserves a thank you.

It’s still unclear if Iran moved the uranium from the sites before the strikes.

President Donald Trump is capitalizing on being called ‘daddy’ by NATO’s secretary general.

I’m not putting aside bottles of water, wind up radios and loo roll. I’m mentally prepping – for the fact I might die. 

Hegseth and Trump’s approach to the media has been ‘reminiscent of a cult’.

If full-blown world conflict breaks out, there are a number of places across the globe which would probably be safe.

As the world reels from what Trump has dubbed the ’12-day war’ between Israel and Iran, we are faced with more questions than answers.

As the world reels from what Trump has dubbed the ’12-day war’ between Israel and Iran, we are faced with more questions than answers.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised US President Donald Trump for airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.

British Iranians reveal to Metro how efforts to recruit them are commonplace.

The boy had fled the conflict between Israel and Iran.

‘Living Nostradamus’ predicts the UK will be ‘dragged into the conflict’ between Israel and Iran.

‘The quiet that follows an exchange of missiles should not be mistaken for peace. It is often the eye of the storm.’

The UK needs to ‘actively prepare’ for potential direct attacks on home soil, a major government security review warns.

Growing tensions in regions from the Middle East to the India-Pakistan and Ukraine-Russia borders require a ‘major cultural shift’ from the government, according to the National Security Strategy (NSS) published today.

It says: ‘Significant escalation in any of these theatres would have a profoundly negative impact on our energy security, the cost of living and our ability to grow our economy.’

Written by John Bew, a historian who served as chief Foreign Policy Advisor to several British Prime Ministers, the report sets out plans for facing the challenges posed by an increasingly unstable world.

At its heart is the decision announced by Sir Keir Starmer today, to further boost the UK’s spending on national security over the next ten years until it hits 5% of GDP.

His announcement came on the first full day of a Nato conference in the Netherlands, which focused on a renewed commitment to greater spending.

The PM described the move as a response to an ‘era of radical uncertainty’, saying: ‘This is an opportunity to deepen our commitment to Nato and drive greater investment in the nation’s wider security and resilience.’

That era of uncertainty is outlined in sobering detail in the strategy report.

It explains that some of the UK’s adversaries are ‘laying the foundations for future conflict’ by putting themselves in a position to ’cause major disruption to our energy and/or supply chains.’

The report says: ‘For the first time in many years, we have to actively prepare for the possibility of the UK homeland coming under direct threat, potentially in a wartime scenario.’

Additionally, it describes the potential challenges posed by the effects of climate change, including ‘potential ecosystem collapse’, ‘threats to human health’, and ‘competition for basic resources, including food and water’.

The UK may need to become more selfish in a world where there is a ‘more transactional approach on migration, defence, trade, energy, technology and raw materials’, the strategy adds.

It reads: ‘NSS 2025 therefore signals the need for a major cultural shift in government to help us navigate the new era in which we find ourselves.

‘We will need to be more unapologetic and systematic in pursuit of our national interests. These interests will be defined as the long-term security and social and economic wellbeing of the British people.’

The report was published shortly after a statement from Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden in the House of Commons, where he said the government needed to ‘face the facts as they are’.

He said: ‘Nato’s member countries meet at a time when the security situation is more in flux than at any time in a generation.

‘A time when Ukraine is in its fourth year of resisting Russia’s invasion, a time when we in Europe are being asked to do more to secure our own defences, a time when security can no longer be thought of just as the traditional realms of air, sea and land, but also of technology, of cyber, of the strength of our democratic society.

‘And as we’ve seen in recent days, it’s been a time of renewed military action in the Middle East, with Israel and the United States acting to try to stop Iran developing a nuclear bomb.’

Questions remain about the funding of Starmer’s commitment to boost national security spending to 5% of GDP.

The government said that would be made up of 1.5% going towards general ‘resilience and security’ and 3.5% towards specific defence, an increase of 0.5% from a commitment the PM made in February.

Achieving that ambition could require heavy cuts to other areas of government spending, and Starmer today said his government would not need to increase taxes to fund it.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

‘We’re all very worried, my sister just called the embassy to find out what’s going on and why she wasn’t put on those planes.’

President Donald Trump aired a statement from Russia mentioning nuclear warheads and Iran and said, ‘I guess that’s why Putin’s “THE BOSS.”‘

The wrestling giant is due to be in Saudi Arabia this week.

Wondering whether it’s safe to holiday in Dubai right now?