Iran strongly rejected the latest claims made by the European Union (EU) on Monday, September 9 that the nation has supplied ballistic missiles to Russia. Senior Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC), Brigadier Fazlollah Nozari, said that, “no missile was sent to Russia.”
Nozari accused the West, especially the EU, of carrying out “a kind of psychological warfare” against his country, and reiterating that Iran has never supplied weapons to any of the parties involved in the war in Ukraine.
Though the EU, through its spokesperson Peter Stano, claimed it has “evidence” to prove its allegations, it has not made any of those public yet.
Meanwhile, Ukraine summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires, Shahriar Amouzegar on Monday and warned him that if the report is true it would have “devastating and irreparable” consequences for relations between the two countries.
Allegations of Iran supplying short-range ballistic missiles to Russia were made last week, when the Wall Street Journal reported the claims based on inputs received from “unidentified” and unnamed sources. Reuters also made similar claims last month.
Iran denied those reports. On Friday, the Iranian mission to the UN claimed in a statement that the country’s position on the Ukraine War remained “unchanged” as it “finds it inhumane to provide military assistance to the [either] sides involved in the conflict.”
The EU nevertheless threatened to impose “new and significant restrictive measures” against Iran, with a NATO spokesperson calling it a “substantial escalation.”
The EU has already imposed various sanctions starting from July last year against Iran, claiming it has “concrete evidence” of it supplying weapons to Russia. None of that evidence has ever been presented to the public.
The West fuels war in Ukraine
Though Reuters reported that the EU claims were based on the alleged information provided by the US, John Kirby, the White House National Security Communications Advisor, refused to confirm any such report during a press conference on Monday.
According to IRNA, the UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric also denied having any information about Iran supplying ballistic missiles to Russia.
Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the UN, in a letter to the UN Secretary-General, claimed that such allegations are deliberately published in Western media without any credible evidence, while the West continues to fuel the war in Ukraine by supplying advanced weapons to one of the parties.
Iran has repeatedly demanded that all other countries supplying weapons to either of the parties refrain from doing so, as it prolongs the war and causes massive humanitarian suffering.
“Iran’s accusers are the ones who are among the biggest arms exporters to one side of the war,” spokesperson of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Kanani, said on Sunday September 8, hinting at the EU and the US who have been supplying weapons and other financial aid to Ukraine ever since the beginning of the war.
Despite concerns that weapons deliveries will escalate the war and jeopardize any early chances of a ceasefire, the US and its NATO allies have been sending billions of dollars worth of weapons to Ukraine on a regular basis. The weapons include fighter jets, ballistic missiles and battle tanks.
According to reports, the US alone has supplied weapons worth USD 57 billion to Ukraine between February 2022 and June 2024. Its European allies have supplied similar amounts of weapons in the same period.