LONDON: The UK government said on Wednesday said it had summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires to warn that the country would face a “significant response” if it continued to supply Russia with long-range missiles to use in Ukraine.
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy ordered Iranian diplomat Ali Matinfar to be called in over the transfers.
“The UK Government was clear that any transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia would be seen as a dangerous escalation and would face a significant response,” a foreign ministry statement read.
Earlier on Tuesday, the United States and Western powers announced new sanctions on Iran following revelations that Tehran has supplied short-range missiles to Russia for imminent use against Ukraine.
Britain, France, and Germany, known collectively as the E3, condemned Iran’s actions in a joint statement. They declared that the provision of missiles, including the Fath-360 with a range of 75 miles (120 kilometers), represents a severe escalation by both Iran and Russia.
The sanctions will include the suspension of aviation agreements with Iran and potential penalties against Iran Air, limiting its ability to operate flights to the UK.
“This is a further escalation of Iran’s military support for Russia’s war against Ukraine and will see Iranian missiles reaching European soil, increasing the suffering of the Ukrainian people,” the E3 statement read.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed that the US would also impose sanctions on Iran in response to the missile transfers. He said that Russian military personnel have been trained in Iran to use the Fath-360 missile, which is expected to be deployed against Ukraine in the coming weeks.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the Western allegations as unfounded and accused the US and its allies of deflecting attention from their support for Israel in its conflict with Hamas. Nasser Kanani, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, called the claims “ugly propaganda” designed to obscure Western involvement in “genocide” in Gaza.
