French President Emmanuel Macron called on his Iranian counterpart Hassan Roubani to prevent more tensions in the wake of the U.S. blacklisting of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

According to a statement issued by the French presidency, Macron urged the Iranian president to “avoid any escalation or destabilization of the region" during a phone call on Tuesday.

For his part, Rouhani described the terror designation as “very provocative, dangerous and unprecedented in international relations”.

A statement issued by Rouhani's office noted that the latter had asked Macron to help speed up a European trade initiative that would facilitate business dealings between Iran and European Union countries.