LONDON: Western powers on Tuesday announced fresh sanctions on Iran for supplying Russia with short-range missiles for imminent use against Ukraine, calling it a dangerous escalation of the conflict that threatened European security.

The United States unveiled fresh sanctions against more than a dozen firms and individuals in Iran and Russia in response to what it called Tehran’s “escalatory” decision to send ballistic missiles to Moscow.

The sanctions targeted 10 people and six companies for their involvement in supporting Iran’s defence sector, and identified four vessels involved in “enabling Iran’s delivery of weapons components and weapons systems,” the US Treasury department claimed.

“Today, the United States and our allies are taking concerted action in response to Iran’s reckless decision to proliferate ballistic missiles to Russia for use in its war of aggression against Ukraine,” deputy Treasury secretary Wally Adeyemo said.

Tehran rejects reports of arms transfers abroad as ‘propaganda’

Alongside the sanctions announ­ced Tuesday, “the Depart­ment of State is concurrently designating three entities, including Iran Air, and identifying five vessels as blocked property involved in the proliferation of Iranian weapons systems to Russia,” the Treasury Department said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Britain, France and Germany announced new sanctions targeting Iran’s air transport, including the cancellation of bilateral air service agreements with the Islamic Republic.

“This act is an escalation by both Iran and Russia, and is a direct threat to European security,” the so-called E3 powers said in a joint statement.

A spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry denied that Iran had made the weapons transfers to Russia, in a message posted on the social media platform X.

On a visit to London, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that the missiles could be used against Ukraine “within weeks”.

“Iran’s new president and foreign minister have repeatedly said that they want to restore engagement with Europe,” he said.

“They want to receive sanctions relief. Destabilising actions like these will achieve exactly the opposite.”

The British government announced soon afterwards that it had already begun “the termination of all direct air services between the UK and Iran”.

Washington accused Iran Air of “operating or having operated in the transportation sector of the Russian Federation economy”, sanctioning it and 10 individuals and companies involved in the supply.

US arms supply to Israel

The move was dismissed in Iran, where foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said the Western claims were false and a distraction from US backing for Israel in its war against Hamas militants.

“Spreading false and misleading news about the transfer of Iranian weapons to some countries is just an ugly propaganda and lie with the aim of concealing the dimensions of the massive illegal arms support of the United States and some Western countries for the genocide in the Gaza Strip,” he added.

Joint Ukraine visit

On Ukraine, the State Department said that Blinken would travel to Kyiv on Wednesday in a solidarity trip with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, as Ukrainian forces face Russian advances in the east.

Moscow has stepped up its aerial attacks in recent weeks but is also trying to fight off a major Ukrainian cross-border offensive into its western Kursk region, which has reshaped the course of the two-and-a-half-year war.

Lammy said the joint trip demonstrated the two countries’ commitment to Ukraine, and comes before UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits the White House on Friday.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Britain has been at the forefront of pushing for more military assistance to Kyiv, including loosening restrictions on the use of Western weapons on Russian territory.

Asked about reports that Britain is waiting for a US green light to let Ukraine use long-range Storm Shadow missiles against Russia, Lammy said he would not discuss “operational issues”.

Last week, the UK had announced that it would send Ukraine 650 new specialist missile systems after the Ukrainian president complained of slow deliveries from the West.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2024