Afghan Voice Agency (AVA): The US government, which according to Moscow has become one of the war parties by sending billions of dollars of weapons to Ukraine since 2022, yesterday (Tuesday) while accusing Tehran of sending missiles to Russia, imposed new sanctions against applied to individuals and institutions related to these two countries.
In a statement posted on the ministry's website, the US Treasury Department said that it has placed 10 individuals and 6 entities based in Iran and Russia on the sanctions list and identified four ships as "confiscated assets".
In this statement, it is claimed that the Islamic Republic of Iran and Russia have signed a contract to supply hundreds of missiles to Russia at the end of 2023. According to this claim, in the summer of 2024, Russian military forces were trained to use Fatah 360 short-range ballistic missiles.
The claim of the US Treasury Department has been made without providing any documentation. Also, a few hours earlier, an informed military source in an interview with Iran's Fars news agency denied the claims of European officials about sending Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia and said: these claims are false and no missiles have been transferred to Russia.
This knowledgeable military official emphasized: Making false claims regarding the transfer of military and missile equipment is only psychological warfare and is baseless.
American media reported last week, quoting anonymous sources, that Washington believes that Iran has sent these types of weapons to Russia for use in the Ukraine war.
On Monday, the spokesperson of the European Union's diplomatic service told reporters: "We have received reliable information from the allies that indicates Iran's action in sending ballistic missiles to Russia."
The Islamic Republic of Iran has also explicitly rejected the claims made in this regard. In response to these reports, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Nasser Kanani, said that while opposing the war, the Islamic Republic supports a political solution to resolve the differences between Russia and Ukraine.
The new wave against Iran is at a time when Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a press conference yesterday that such information does not correspond to reality, and Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani also emphasized in a press conference yesterday that Iran is not a part of the war and crisis in Ukraine and is a political solution. considers it the best way to solve this issue.
He emphasized that "we strongly reject these accusations, especially that those accusing Iran are among the biggest exporters of war to one side (Ukraine) and have played a significant role in aggravating the crisis and war".
In the statement of the US Treasury Ministry, it is stated that at the same time as the US action, the international partners of this country have also introduced new measures against Iran Air.
The British government announced a few hours ago that as part of its new sanctions against Iran, it has started suspending "all direct air services between the UK and Iran".
British Transport Secretary Louise Haig said: "We will use all the levers at our disposal to put pressure on Iran to end its support for Putin's illegal aggression."
He added: "That is why we have started to suspend all direct air services between the UK and Iran."
Hours earlier, France, England and Germany accused Iran of sending missiles to Russia for use in the Ukraine war and announced that they plan to impose new sanctions against Tehran.
In a joint statement issued by these three European countries, it is stated: "Iran's military support for Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine has intensified, and we will witness the arrival of Iranian missiles on European soil, which will increase the suffering of the Ukrainian people."
In the past months, Western countries have tried many times to turn the Islamic Republic of Iran into one of the partners in the war in Ukraine with media creations. Iran and Russia have always rejected these claims.
The claims of Western countries are raised while these countries have been the main supplier of weapons to Ukraine since the start of the Ukrainian war in February 2022, and at times they have also given permission to use these weapons to attack Russian territory.