The European Union assured on Monday that the West had “credible information” on deliveries of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia, an accusation that Moscow has not rejected, unlike Tehran.
“We are reviewing the matter with member states, and if confirmed, this delivery would represent a significant material escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine,” said Peter Stano, a spokesman for the European Union’s diplomatic service.
The United States has informed its European allies of the delivery of Iranian short-range missiles to Russia as it steps up attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In response, new restrictions
“The unanimous position of European leaders has always been clear. The European Union will respond swiftly and in coordination with its international partners, including by taking new and significant restrictive measures against Iran,” the spokesperson added.
NATO, for its part, warned of the risk of “substantial escalation” if these deliveries were confirmed.
“We are aware of this information. As allies have already said, any transfer of ballistic missiles and associated technology from Iran to Russia would represent a substantial escalation,” a spokesman for the Atlantic Alliance said.
The Kremlin has not denied that Iran is supplying it with such missiles, noting that Russia is developing its relations with Tehran as it sees fit, particularly in the “most sensitive” areas.
“This kind of information is not always true,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, without denying the accusations during a press briefing.
“Iran is an important partner, we are developing our economic and commercial relations, our cooperation, our dialogue in all possible areas, including the most sensitive ones, and we will continue to do so,” he added.
Iran denies
For its part, Tehran has assured that it is not delivering weapons to Moscow.
“We categorically reject claims that Iran played a role in exporting weapons to any of the conflicting parties,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said at his weekly briefing on Monday.
Russia, which has been waging war on Ukraine for more than two and a half years, bombing its cities and claiming the annexation of a large part of its territory, has increased its military production and is also said to be obtaining supplies from its North Korean neighbor.
The West is arming Ukraine, but is prohibiting it from using the missiles delivered to strike Russian territory, something that kyiv has long demanded, since the launchers and aircraft bombing it are generally based in Russia and not on Ukrainian territory.
The United States and Ukraine’s European allies have repeatedly warned Iran in the past that missile deliveries would lead to serious consequences, while Tehran is already under numerous Western sanctions.
New Russian conquest
Washington stressed in mid-August that Iran should expect significant consequences if it decided to supply missiles to Russia.
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, also mentioned new sanctions in the case of missile deliveries to Russia.
The United States and the European Union have already imposed sanctions on Iranian drone manufacturers, whose products were supplied to Russia.
Ukraine, which is facing a Russian offensive in the east of the country, is targeted daily by “Shahed” type drones, developed by Iran.
Moscow’s forces are particularly continuing to gain ground towards the Pokrovsk railway and road junction. On Monday, the Russian army claimed to have captured a new village in this area, Memryk.
kyiv has launched a ground offensive into Russian territory in the Kursk region, taking control of more than 1,000 square kilometers, in an attempt to force Moscow to redeploy troops fighting in eastern Ukraine, without success so far.