The United States and the United Kingdom have accused Iran of supplying short-range ballistic missiles to Russia to use in the war in Ukraine and plan to punish those involved.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking alongside British Foreign Secretary David Lammy during a visit to London, said sanctions will be announced later on Tuesday.
Mr Blinken said: ‘Russia has now received shipments of these ballistic missiles and will likely use them within weeks in Ukraine, against Ukrainians. The supply of Iranian missiles enables Russia to use more of its arsenal for targets that are further from the front line.’
The remarks come ahead of a planned joint visit to Ukraine where both Mr Blinken and Mr Lammy will meet President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss defence.
The accusations about Iranian missiles could embolden Mr Zelensky to further ramp up pressure on the US and other allies to allow Ukraine to use Western-supplied missiles to strike deep inside Russia.
The meeting coincides with one of the largest Russian military drills in the Pacific and Arctic oceans, as well as the Mediterranean, Caspian and Baltic seas.
Putin said of the drills: ‘Today marks the beginning of its active phase, during which the most complex tasks, as close to combat conditions as possible, will be drilled.’
President Joe Biden has allowed Ukraine to fire US-provided missiles across the border into Russia in self-defence but largely limited the distance over concerns about further escalating the conflict.
That has not stopped Ukraine from using its own weapons to hit targets deeper in Russia, launching on Tuesday one of the biggest drone attacks on Russian soil in the two-and-a-half-year war that targeted multiple regions including Moscow.
Mr Lammy called the Iranian missile transfers to Russia a ‘significant escalation.’
Iran has denied providing Russia with weapons and said in a recent statement: ‘Iran considers the provision of military assistance to the parties engaged in the conflict – which leads to increased human casualties, destruction of infrastructure, and a distancing from ceasefire negotiations – to be inhumane.’
The US and its allies have been warning Iran for months not to transfer ballistic missiles to Russia.
CIA director William Burns, who was in London on Saturday for a joint appearance with his British intelligence counterpart, warned of the growing and ‘troubling’ defence relationship involving Russia, China, Iran and North Korea that he said threatens both Ukraine and Western allies in the Middle East.
Mr Biden is set to host British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for talks at the White House on Friday, with support for Ukraine’s defence on the agenda.
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