Iran again on Saturday denied supplying weapons to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine, a country invaded by the Russian army.
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Kyiv and its Western allies accuse Moscow of using Iranian-made drones in attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks. It is expected that this issue will be discussed on Monday at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian denied the accusations and said that his country “has not provided and will not provide any weapons for use in the war in Ukraine,” according to a statement from his ministry.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that dozens of attacks, which he said were using Iranian missiles and drones, targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
“We believe that handing over weapons to each side will prolong the war,” the Iranian minister said in a phone conversation Friday with his Portuguese counterpart, Joao Gomez Cravinho, according to the statement.
During a separate meeting with the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, Mr. Amir Abdollahian confirmed Iran’s official position on the war in Ukraine.
We cooperate with Russia in the field of defence. Regarding the war in Ukraine, our policy is not to send weapons to the parties to the conflict.
On September 23, Ukraine announced its decision to desire a “significant reduction” of Iran’s diplomatic presence in Kyiv, in response to the delivery of drones from Tehran to Moscow.
Iran rejected this decision and considered it “motivated by baseless information.”
In September, the United States imposed sanctions on an Iranian company involved in the delivery of drones to Russia.
