Western powers announce new sanctions against Iran, accused of delivering missiles to Moscow

The United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany have announced Tuesday that they would take new sanctions against Iran, targeting in particular air transport, accusing Tehran of having delivered ballistic missiles to Russia to strike Ukraine.

“Russia has received deliveries of these ballistic missiles and will likely use them in the coming weeks in Ukraine against the Ukrainians,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a news conference in London with his British counterpart David Lammy. The two men are due to travel to kyiv this week.

The head of American diplomacy added that the United States and its allies would retaliate with new sanctions against Tehran, and in particular against the national airline Iran Air.

In a statement published shortly afterwards, London, Paris and Berlin (E3) also indicated that they had “confirmed that Iran had carried out these transfers” of missiles.

“We will take immediate steps to denounce our bilateral air services agreements with Iran,” wrote the governments of these three countries.

“In addition, we will work to designate individuals and entities involved in Iran's ballistic missile program and the transfer of ballistic missiles and other weapons to Russia,” they continued. “We will also work to place Iran Air under sanctions.”

Iran has rejected Western accusations of missile transfers. “The dissemination of false and misleading information about the transfer of Iranian weapons to certain countries is nothing but a horrible propaganda and a lie aimed at concealing the scale of the massive and illegal support in arms of the United States and some Western countries for the genocide in the Gaza Strip,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani accused on X.

According to Antony Blinken, dozens of Russian military personnel have trained in Iran to use the Fath-360 ballistic missile, which has a range of 120 kilometers.

“We have warned Iran privately that this would be a dramatic escalation,” Blinken said.

– “Destabilizing actions” –

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On Monday, the European Union had assured that the West had “credible information” about Iranian ballistic missile deliveries to Russia.

“The new Iranian president and foreign minister have repeatedly said that they want to re-establish dialogue with Europe. They want to get sanctions relief. Destabilizing actions like these will have exactly the opposite effect,” Blinken warned.

He will travel with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy “this week” to Ukraine. “We are the closest of allies, so I am delighted that we are travelling together, demonstrating our commitment to Ukraine,” Lammy said.

Antony Blinken's visit comes ahead of Keir Starmer's visit to the White House on Friday. This is the Labour Prime Minister's second trip to Washington since he came to power in early July after 14 years of Conservative rule.

While the “special relationship” between the United States and the United Kingdom has endured across partisan divides, the Democrats have historically been considered closer to Labour than to the Conservatives.

But for Keir Starmer, a total alignment with the Democrats could prove risky two months before the American elections.

Kamala Harris has remobilised the Democratic camp after her late entry into the campaign to replace Joe Biden, but remains neck and neck with Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Flames rise from a building bombed by the Israeli army in Sheikh Radwan, a northern neighborhood of Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, on September 3, 2024, against the backdrop of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas © AFP – Omar AL-QATTAA

Keir Starmer has repeatedly said he would maintain his predecessor's position conservative, who strongly supported Ukraine against Russia. London is among kyiv's most important supporters.

The United Kingdom said on Friday it would supply 650 missile systems to Ukraine to help it strengthen its air defenses, after criticism from President Zelensky over the pace of military aid deliveries to Kiev.

With the United States, “we are committed to boosting our alliance,” David Lammy said Monday evening. “In a more unstable and less secure world, it is even more important that we are highly aligned nations.”

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