The UK, France and Germany have announced fresh sanctions on Iran for supplying Russia with ballistic missiles for use in Ukraine.
Among the new measures, which have been announced as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits London, are restrictions on Iran Air’s ability to fly to the UK and Europe.
Mr Blinken said Russians had been trained by Iranians to use short-range missiles and they could be deployed against Ukrainians within weeks.
His host, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, said the Iranian deliveries marked a “dangerous escalation” which had allowed Russia to “fuel its illegal invasion of Ukraine”.
“Iran must stop supporting [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s unprovoked, premeditated and barbaric attack against a sovereign democratic state,” Mr Lammy added. “The UK will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
Speaking earlier, alongside Mr Lammy at a news conference in London, Mr Blinken said Russian President Vladimir Putin was “increasingly relying on support” for Iran and North Korea to help “wage his war of aggression on Ukraine”.
The UK Foreign Office also announced specific sanctions against several key individuals it said were heavily involved in the missiles supplies, including Iranian Brig Gen Seyed Hamzeh Ghalandari who commands the country’s exports of defence products to its partners. He has been placed under a travel ban and asset freeze, alongside two other Iranian officials.
Five Russian cargo ships have also been sanctioned, for transporting the military supplies from Iran, despite what the UK said were repeated warnings not to do so.
Meanwhile, several organisations, including some allegedly involved in the production of the Shahed drones – which Russia has used consistently in attacks on Ukrainian cities – have been sanctioned.
In a statement, the UK, France and Germany – known as the E3 – called on Iran “to immediately cease all support to Russia’s war against Ukraine and halt the development and transfers of its ballistic missiles”.
They added that Iran’s supply of missiles represented a “a direct threat to European security”.
Mr Blinken echoed the E3 statement, saying that the move “demonstrates how Iran’s destabilising influence stretches long beyond the Middle East”.
The Western sanctions come as Russia has continued to make gains in eastern Ukraine, with Moscow’s forces rapidly approaching the key settlement of Pokrovsk.
Pokrovsk is a key transportation hub. If it falls, then Russian forces will cut off one of the main supply routes in the region. This will likely force Ukraine to retreat from Chasiv Yar and the front line will move closer to Kramatorsk.
The Iranian short range missile deliveries will aid the Russian advance, Mr Blinken said, by allowing Moscow to use more of its existing arsenal for targets that are further from the frontline, while reserving the new missiles for closer range targets.
