(Tehran) Iran on Tuesday said it was ready to hold talks with Kyiv to clarify claims it deemed “baseless” that Tehran was supplying Russia with weapons and drones used in its offensive against Ukraine. .
Posted at 2:37 p.m.
Kyiv and its Western allies have accused Russia of using Iranian-made drones in recent weeks to carry out attacks in Ukraine.
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it had no knowledge of the use of such weapons by the Russian army.
Deeming these assertions “unfounded” and “based on false information”, the spokesman of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nasser Kanani assured Tuesday that “Iran was ready for negotiation and discussion with Ukraine to resolve these charges,” according to a statement.
“Claims that the Islamic Republic is sending weapons, including combat drones, to be used in the war in Ukraine” are “false”, the ministry said.
After several deadly strikes by suicide drones on Kyiv, Ukraine on Monday asked the European Union to impose more sanctions on Iran.
On Tuesday, the head of Ukrainian diplomacy Dmytro Kouleba proposed to President Volodymyr Zelensky to break diplomatic ties with Iran.
Kouleba said Tehran supplied Iranian drones to Russia “while telling us that it is against war and does not support any side”.
In recent days, Kyiv has repeatedly denounced Russia’s use of Iranian-made drones, including Shahed 136 suicide bombers, to strike civilian energy infrastructure in Ukraine.
To justify his proposal to President Zelensky, Mr. Kouleba also underlined “the emergence of reports on the possible continuation of arms supplies by Iran to Russia”, after press articles evoking the imminent delivery of missiles Iranian ground-to-ground troops in Moscow.
The Iranian ministry considered that the allegations on arms supplies were part “of the intentional establishment and for political purposes by the media of certain countries of a climate” hostile to Tehran.
“Since the start of the conflict, the Islamic Republic has always stressed the need to end it and resolve disputes through peaceful means,” the spokesperson added.
In September, Ukraine had already reduced Iran’s diplomatic presence in the country, in retaliation for alleged arms deliveries from Tehran to Moscow.