Iran short-range ballistic missiles have been sent Missile To RussiaThat is despite warnings from Washington and its allies not to provide Moscow with precision weapons that it could use against American targets, according to US and European officials. Ukraine,
The new missiles are expected to help advance Russia’s efforts to destroy Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, which the president has rejected. Volodymyr Zelensky Ukraine’s foreign minister said last week there were 4,000 bombings per month across the country.
U.S. and European officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, confirmed that Iran has shipped several hundred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, following months of warnings about sanctions. The delivery was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Iran refuses to provide security assistance Weapon In a statement issued by its permanent mission on Friday, it said United Nations and said there had been no change in his position on the war in Ukraine.
“Iran considers providing military support to parties involved in the conflict to be inhumane – leading to increased human casualties, destruction of infrastructure, and deviation from ceasefire negotiations,” the statement said. “Thus, Iran not only refrains from engaging in such actions itself, it also calls on other countries to stop supplying arms to parties involved in the conflict.”
The G-7 group of nations warned in March that they would impose coordinated sanctions on Iran if it transferred missiles, a warning repeated repeatedly. NATO The summit will be held in Washington in July.
In a statement on Saturday, National Security Council spokesman Sean Savet declined to explicitly confirm the missile transfer but hinted at growing cooperation between Iran and Russia.
“We have been warning about the growing security partnership between Russia and Iran since the beginning of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine and are concerned by these reports,” Savet said. He added that the United States and its key allies had already made it clear they were “ready to bear significant consequences.”
“Any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine and lead to the killing of more Ukrainian civilians,” he said. “This partnership threatens European security and demonstrates how Iran’s destabilizing influence extends across the Middle East and around the world.”
But despite threats and bitter relations between the US and Iran, President Joe Biden There are many reasons to exercise restraint.
One is that the Biden administration has been conducting detailed diplomacy with Iran for months in an effort to prevent the war in the Gaza Strip from turning into a regional conflict. Through intermediaries, Biden officials have been urging Iran not to launch military attacks on Israel or order its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon to launch any major attacks.
A senior European official said it was unclear how strong Washington’s response would be, with the US presidential election campaign in full swing and Biden’s standing weak.
Biden has rejected Zelensky’s repeated requests to lift a ban on Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles to attack air bases inside Russia. From those sites, Russia could strike Ukraine with heavy bombs, equipped with wings to glide and GPS packs to ensure accuracy. Ukraine currently does not have missiles with long enough range to reach those air bases.
Zelenskyy went to a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group in Ramstein, Germany, on Friday and demanded the lifting of sanctions, and later in the evening he repeated his appeal at a major conference on Europe in Cernobbio, Italy. In those remarks, he called for “air security to defend ourselves.” He said Ukraine would not use any missiles provided by allies against civilian targets.
“We want to use these only at military airports,” he said.
“People are afraid we will hit the Kremlin,” he said. “It’s a pity we can’t do that.” But he added that even the missiles he had requested couldn’t reach that far.
Officials suggested on Saturday that Iranian missile supplies to Moscow could prompt Biden to approve long-range missiles to Ukraine. But the European official said Biden has been wary of pressuring the president Vladimir Putin Relations with Russia have gone too far, as they fear this could escalate the war and lead to a direct conflict with NATO.
There are also concerns among Western officials that the move could sideline Iran’s new President, Massoud Pezeshkian, who is considered a moderate within the country’s ruling establishment.
Pezeshkian, elected in July, has said he hopes to improve the domestic economy by winning sanctions relief from Europe and the United States, and Western officials also hope he will help in efforts to halt Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.
This article was originally published in The New York Times.
The new missiles are expected to help advance Russia’s efforts to destroy Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, which the president has rejected. Volodymyr Zelensky Ukraine’s foreign minister said last week there were 4,000 bombings per month across the country.
U.S. and European officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, confirmed that Iran has shipped several hundred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, following months of warnings about sanctions. The delivery was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Iran refuses to provide security assistance Weapon In a statement issued by its permanent mission on Friday, it said United Nations and said there had been no change in his position on the war in Ukraine.
“Iran considers providing military support to parties involved in the conflict to be inhumane – leading to increased human casualties, destruction of infrastructure, and deviation from ceasefire negotiations,” the statement said. “Thus, Iran not only refrains from engaging in such actions itself, it also calls on other countries to stop supplying arms to parties involved in the conflict.”
The G-7 group of nations warned in March that they would impose coordinated sanctions on Iran if it transferred missiles, a warning repeated repeatedly. NATO The summit will be held in Washington in July.
In a statement on Saturday, National Security Council spokesman Sean Savet declined to explicitly confirm the missile transfer but hinted at growing cooperation between Iran and Russia.
“We have been warning about the growing security partnership between Russia and Iran since the beginning of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine and are concerned by these reports,” Savet said. He added that the United States and its key allies had already made it clear they were “ready to bear significant consequences.”
“Any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine and lead to the killing of more Ukrainian civilians,” he said. “This partnership threatens European security and demonstrates how Iran’s destabilizing influence extends across the Middle East and around the world.”
But despite threats and bitter relations between the US and Iran, President Joe Biden There are many reasons to exercise restraint.
One is that the Biden administration has been conducting detailed diplomacy with Iran for months in an effort to prevent the war in the Gaza Strip from turning into a regional conflict. Through intermediaries, Biden officials have been urging Iran not to launch military attacks on Israel or order its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon to launch any major attacks.
A senior European official said it was unclear how strong Washington’s response would be, with the US presidential election campaign in full swing and Biden’s standing weak.
Biden has rejected Zelensky’s repeated requests to lift a ban on Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles to attack air bases inside Russia. From those sites, Russia could strike Ukraine with heavy bombs, equipped with wings to glide and GPS packs to ensure accuracy. Ukraine currently does not have missiles with long enough range to reach those air bases.
Zelenskyy went to a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group in Ramstein, Germany, on Friday and demanded the lifting of sanctions, and later in the evening he repeated his appeal at a major conference on Europe in Cernobbio, Italy. In those remarks, he called for “air security to defend ourselves.” He said Ukraine would not use any missiles provided by allies against civilian targets.
“We want to use these only at military airports,” he said.
“People are afraid we will hit the Kremlin,” he said. “It’s a pity we can’t do that.” But he added that even the missiles he had requested couldn’t reach that far.
Officials suggested on Saturday that Iranian missile supplies to Moscow could prompt Biden to approve long-range missiles to Ukraine. But the European official said Biden has been wary of pressuring the president Vladimir Putin Relations with Russia have gone too far, as they fear this could escalate the war and lead to a direct conflict with NATO.
There are also concerns among Western officials that the move could sideline Iran’s new President, Massoud Pezeshkian, who is considered a moderate within the country’s ruling establishment.
Pezeshkian, elected in July, has said he hopes to improve the domestic economy by winning sanctions relief from Europe and the United States, and Western officials also hope he will help in efforts to halt Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.
This article was originally published in The New York Times.
