The United States, Britain, France and Germany announced on Tuesday that they would impose new sanctions against Iran, targeting in particular air transport, accusing Tehran of having delivered ballistic missiles to Russia to strike Ukraine.
“Russia has received deliveries of these ballistic missiles and will likely use them in the coming weeks in Ukraine against the Ukrainians,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a news conference in London with his British counterpart, David Lammy. The two men are due to travel to kyiv this week.
The head of American diplomacy added that the United States and its allies would take new sanctions against Tehran in retaliation, and in particular against the national airline Iran Air.
In a statement published shortly afterwards, London, Paris and Berlin also indicated that they had “confirmation that Iran had carried out these transfers” of missiles.
“We will take immediate steps to terminate our bilateral air services agreements with Iran,” the governments of the three countries wrote.
“In addition, we will work to designate individuals and entities involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program and the transfer of ballistic missiles and other weapons to Russia,” they continued. “We will also work to place Iran Air under sanctions.”
“Destabilizing actions”
Iran has rejected Western accusations of missile transfers. “The dissemination of false and misleading information about the transfer of Iranian weapons to some countries is nothing but a horrible propaganda and a lie aimed at concealing the scale of the massive and illegal support in arms by the United States and some Western countries for the genocide in the Gaza Strip,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani accused on X.
According to Antony Blinken, dozens of Russian military personnel have trained in Iran to use the Fath-360 ballistic missile, which has a range of 120 kilometers.
“We have warned Iran privately that this step would constitute a dramatic escalation,” Blinken said.
On Monday, the European Union assured that the West had “credible information” on deliveries of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia.
“The new Iranian president and foreign minister have repeatedly said they want to re-engage with Europe. They want sanctions relief. Destabilizing actions like these will have exactly the opposite effect,” Blinken warned.
Relations in the run-up to elections
He will travel to Ukraine with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy “this week.” “We are the closest of allies, so I am delighted that we are travelling together, demonstrating our commitment to Ukraine,” Lammy said.
Antony Blinken’s visit comes ahead of Keir Starmer’s visit to the White House on Friday. It is the Labour prime minister’s second trip to Washington since taking office in early July, after 14 years of Conservative rule.
While the “special relationship” between the United States and the United Kingdom has endured across partisan lines, Democrats have historically been seen as closer to Labour than to the Conservatives.
But for Keir Starmer, a total alignment with the Democrats could prove risky two months before the American elections.
Kamala Harris has re-mobilized the Democratic camp after her late entry into the campaign to replace Joe Biden, but remains neck and neck with the Republican candidate, Donald Trump.
Keir Starmer has repeatedly said he would maintain the position of his Conservative predecessor, who strongly supported Ukraine against Russia. London is one of kyiv’s most important backers.
Britain said on Friday it would supply 650 missile systems to Ukraine to help it strengthen its air defences, following criticism from President Zelensky over the pace of military aid deliveries to kyiv.
With the United States, “we are committed to boosting our alliance,” David Lammy said Monday night. “In a more unstable and less secure world, it is even more important that we are highly aligned nations.”