The EU has evidence that Iran is providing Russia with unmanned aerial vehicles for its war against Ukraine and is working towards new sanctions against Tehran, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.
Nabila Massrali of the European Commission said at a briefing in Brussels that they had collected “sufficient evidence” over Iran supplying Russia with deadly drones.
The issue was also discussed at the EU foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, during which the ministers shared the data they had.
Read more: US warns of sanctions over Iran drone ties after Kyiv strikes
Iran refuted reports about Russia using Iranian-made drones in Ukraine, as Moscow ups the ante with a series of strikes on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks.
On Monday, an EU foreign ministerial session decided to levy sanctions against 11 Iranian individuals and four entities over the country’s crackdown on protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian woman, in police custody.
The sanctions target Iran’s morality police and two police figures, as well as a number of local chiefs along with Issa Zarepour, the country’s information and communications technology minister.
The US said Wednesday that it has “abundant evidence” that Russia is using Iran-made military drones to attack Ukraine.
“The United States began warning in July that Iran was planning to transfer UAVs to Russia for use in Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine, and we now have abundant evidence that these UAVs are being used to strike Ukrainian civilians and critical civilian infrastructure,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles.
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“As Iran continues to lie and deny providing weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine, we are committed to working with allies and partners to prevent the transfer of dangerous weaponry to Russia,” said Price.
He said the US will not hesitate to use sanctions and other appropriate tools against all those involved in these transfers.
“We will also continue to surge unprecedented security assistance to Ukraine, including air defense capabilities so that Ukraine can defend itself from these weapons,” he added.