Iran says Europe’s anti-Iran measures taken on ‘baseless grounds’
Iran said on Monday the Ukrainian president who rejected claims of Iran’s delivery of ballistic missile to Russia showed how European countries take “harmful measures” against the Islamic Republic on “baseless grounds.”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told a weekly press briefing that by President Volodymyr Zelensky’s remarks were “quite clear” when he stated that Iran had not delivered any missile to Russia.
On September 10, the US claimed that Iran provided Russia with Fath-360 close-range ballistic missiles as a boost to Mosocow’s war against Ukraine. Iranian officials denied the claim.
“We’ve warned Tehran publicly, we’ve warned Tehran privately, that taking this step would be a dangerous escalation,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. “Russia has now received shipments of these missiles.”
Then, the US, the European Union and the UK imposed sanctions against Iran.
The EU announced sanctions against more than a dozen Iranian individuals and firms, including the country’s deputy defense minister and national airline.
Washington also sanctioned Iranian national carrier Iran Air “for operating or having operated in the transportation sector of the Russian Federation economy,” the Treasury Department said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the UK said it is terminating “all direct air services between the UK and Iran.”
However, the Ukrainian president said on September 11 that there was no evidence yet that Russia had used Iranian ballistic missiles against Ukraine.
Zelensky said he had received information from Western intelligence about the Iranian ballistic missile deliveries to Moscow.
“But I cannot confirm the use of the missiles for now. I can only confirm when we have evidence. As it was with North Korea,” the president said.
Iran has repeatedly said that it has played no role in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and has called for dialogue to bring an end to the conflict.