US says Iran lying on drone supplies to Russia, threatens sanctions
Washington, Oct 19 (EFE).- The United States warned on Wednesday that Iran was lying about arming Russia with kamikaze drones, hinting at a possibility of sanctions against Tehran for the lethal UAVs used to attack infrastructure and civilian targets in Ukraine.
The US agreed with Western allies, including the European Union, that the alleged supply of explosive drones to Russia violated United Nations sanctions.
“We now have abundant evidence that these UAVs are being used to strike Ukrainian civilians and critical civilian infrastructure,” a State Department statement said.
The statement reaffirmed the US commitment to working with allies and partners to “prevent the transfer of dangerous weaponry to Russia” even as Iran “continues to lie and deny providing weapons” to use in Ukraine.
“We will not hesitate to use our sanctions and other appropriate tools on all involved in these transfers,” the statement said.
The State Department said the US would continue to surge “unprecedented security assistance to Ukraine”, including air defense capabilities, to help Ukraine defend itself.
The statement comes hours after the European Union reached a political agreement on sanctioning Iran over the same reason, EU sources told EFE.
The United States joined the United Kingdom and France in raising the issue of Iran’s transfer of UAVs to Russia at a meeting of the UN Security Council.
Security Council members received expert briefings from the UN Secretariat on reports of the alleged transfer of dangerous weapons from Iran in violation of UN Security Council resolution 2231.
Russia and Iran have separately denied the allegations as baseless lies.
Over the last few days, Ukraine has suffered deadly and widely pulverizing assaults on critical infrastructure and power sources due to kamikaze drones and cruise missiles fired by Russian forces.
The Ukrainian military and US intelligence have alleged that Russia was using Iranian-made drones, known for their lethality.
Kamikaze drones crash into a target and detonate their warhead, unlike traditional military UAVs that return to base after dropping missiles. EFE
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