Iran again denied on Saturday supplying Russia with weapons for use in the war in Ukraine, a country invaded by the Russian army.
kyiv and its Western allies accuse Moscow of using Iranian-made drones in attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks. The subject is expected to be discussed Monday at a meeting of European Union (EU) foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian denied the charges and said his country had “not provided and will not provide any weapons for use in the war in Ukraine”, according to a statement from his ministry.
On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said dozens of attacks he said using Iranian missiles and drones had targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
“We believe that the delivery of arms to each of the parties will prolong the war,” the Iranian minister said in a phone conversation Friday with his Portuguese counterpart, Joao Gomes Cravinho, according to the statement.
During a separate meeting with the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, Mr. Amir-Abdollahian reiterated Iran’s official position on the war in Ukraine.
“We cooperate with Russia in the field of defence. Regarding the war in Ukraine, our policy is not to send arms to the parties in conflict,” he said.
On September 23, Ukraine announced its decision to want to “significantly reduce” Iran’s diplomatic presence in kyiv, in retaliation for the deliveries of drones from Tehran to Moscow.
Iran rejected this decision considered “motivated by baseless information”.
In September, the United States imposed sanctions on an Iranian company involved in delivering drones to Russia.