“If confirmed, this delivery would represent a significant material escalation of Iran's support for Russia's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine,” said Peter Stano, a spokesman for Iran's diplomatic service. “The European Union will respond swiftly and in coordination with its international partners, including by taking new and significant restrictive measures against Iran,” the spokesman added.
The United States then went further than the Europeans, threatening Iran with “significant consequences.” “Any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would represent a dramatic escalation of Iran's support for Russian aggression against Ukraine,” State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said.
“We have made it clear that we are prepared to impose significant consequences,” the spokesman said, without specifying what action the United States or its allies might take against Iran. The United States and Ukraine's European allies have repeatedly warned Iran in the past that the missile deliveries would lead to serious consequences, while Tehran is already subject to numerous Western sanctions.
“Substantial Escalation”
For NATO, “any transfer of ballistic missiles and related technology from Iran to Russia would represent a substantial escalation,” a spokesman for the Atlantic alliance said. According to the Wall Street Journal, the United States has informed its European allies about the delivery of short-range Iranian missiles to Russia as it steps up its attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
The Kremlin has not denied that Iran supplies it with such missiles, noting that Russia is developing relations with Tehran as it sees fit, particularly in the “most sensitive” areas. “This kind of information is not always true,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, without denying the allegations.
“Iran is an important partner, we are developing our economic-commercial relations, cooperation, dialogue in all possible areas, including the most sensitive ones, and we will continue to do so,” he added.
Iran denies
Tehran, for its part, has assured that it will not supply weapons to Moscow. “We categorically reject claims that Iran has played a role in exporting arms to any of the parties to the conflict,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said Monday.
Russia, which has been at war with Ukraine for more than two and a half years, bombing cities and demanding the annexation of much of its territory, has increased its military production and is also reportedly getting supplies from its northern neighbor. The West is arming Ukraine but prohibiting it from using the delivered missiles to strike Russian territory, something Kiev has long demanded, as the launchers and planes that bomb it are generally based in Russia and not on Ukrainian soil.
The new Russian conquest
Washington stressed in mid-August that Iran should expect significant consequences if it decides to supply missiles to Russia. The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell also mentioned new sanctions in the case of missile deliveries to Russia.
The US and EU have already imposed sanctions on Iranian drone manufacturers, whose products have been supplied to Russia. Ukraine, which is facing a Russian offensive in the east of the country, is targeted daily by Iran-developed “Shahed” drones.