Pointing to reports of Iranian suicide drones striking downtown Kyiv earlier in the day, Washington blasted Tehran on Monday for lying about providing drones and weapons to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has reported a spate of Russian attacks using Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones.
A National Security Council official stressed that there is extensive proof of Iranian-made UAV use by Russia against both military and civilian targets in Ukraine and that Russian operators continue to receive training in Iran on the use of these systems, noting that, at the same time, Iran continues to deny providing weapons to Russia.
The official also pointed to new reports suggesting Iran is considering selling Russia even more destructive weapons to support the invasion of Ukraine that Tehran claims to oppose.
Ever since the beginning of Russia’s war on Ukraine, Washington has sounded the alarm and declassified bits of intelligence that Moscow was looking to Iran for drones and weapons.
Also on Monday, US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel pointed out that Washington agrees with British and French assessments that Iran supplying UAVs to Russia would violate the UNSC resolution 2231 that endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the US.
Under Resolution 2231, a conventional arms embargo on Iran was in place until October 2020, but the Security Council rejected US efforts under former president Donald Trump to extend the arms embargo, enabling Tehran to resume arms exports.
Reiterating accusations against Tehran of lying that Iranian drones are not being used by Russia in Ukraine, White House spokesperson Karinne Jean-Pierre stressed that the US will continue to vigorously enforce its sanctions on Russian and Iranian arms trade and make it harder for Iran to sell weapons to Russia.
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