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Britain sanctions Iranian military figures over drone sales to Russia
Britain on Thursday (Oct 20) sanctioned three Iranian military officers and one company involved in the supply of drones to Russia for use in Ukraine, according to an update to the UK Sanctions List.
"Iran's support for Putin's brutal and illegal war against Ukraine is deplorable," Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement.
"Today we are sanctioning those who have supplied the drones used by Russia to target Ukrainian civilians. This is clear evidence of Iran's destabilising role in global security."
According to US and Iranian security officials, Iran has deepened its commitment to supplying arms for Russia’s assault on Ukraine by agreeing to provide a batch of medium-range missiles, as well as large numbers of cheap but effective drones.
The Iranian sale of missiles to Russia took place following a series of meetings including one in Moscow on 18 September and another on 6 October when Iran’s first vice-president, Mohammad Mokhber, two senior officials from Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards and an official from the Supreme National Security Council visited Moscow.
Iran on Tuesday (Oct 18) repeated its denial of selling drones to Russia, and called for talks with Ukraine to “resolve” the accusations.
But Tehran at the same time asserts it is fully entitled to sell arms abroad since the restrictions on arms sales contained in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal expired in 2020. The US, France and the UK say missile sales would be in breach of the nuclear deal.
Biden says he’s worried about Ukraine aid if GOP wins the House
The White House said Thursday (Oct 20), Iranian personnel have been on the ground in Russian-occupied Crimea helping Russian forces conduct drone attacks on Ukraine.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said on Tuesday (Oct 18) that he had advised that his nation break off all diplomatic ties with Iran, saying Ukraine would not tolerate Iran’s “meanness and lies” on the issue.
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