This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
The United States on September 10 issued new sanctions on Iran in response to Tehran’s military support to Russia, including the alleged recent delivery of ballistic missiles, for use in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The U.S. Treasury Department designated 10 individuals, and six entities based in Iran and Russia for sanctions and identified four vessels as blocked property that the Treasury Department said are enabling Iran’s delivery of weapons components and weapons systems to Russia. The weapons that the United States said were transferred include drones and close-range ballistic missiles (CRBMs).
“In late 2023, Iran and Russia signed a contract for the supply of hundreds of missiles. In the summer of 2024, Russian military personnel were trained on the use of Iran’s Project 360 CBRMs by Iranian personnel,” the Treasury Department said in a statement, adding that Russia received the first shipment of CBRMs from Iran earlier this month.
The announcement came after the United States and key European allies accused Iran of a dangerous escalation in a pattern of malign activity that threatens European security by supplying the short-range ballistic missiles to Russia.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his British counterpart, David Lammy, officially accused Iran of the missile transfers earlier on September 10 in London.
“Russia has now received shipments of these [Iranian] ballistic missiles and will likely use them within weeks in Ukraine against Ukrainians,” Blinken said.
The Kremlin has yet to comment on Blinken’s statement. A day earlier it declined to directly refute the accusation about Iranian-supplied missiles and instead highlighted its cooperation with Tehran, saying it was developing dialogue in all areas. Tehran has denied supplying missiles to Moscow.
After Blinken and Lammy’s statements, the German Foreign Ministry called out Iran for its support of Russia’s “war of aggression,” noting that Iranian missiles could as a result be striking European soil.
It shared a joint German, French, and British statement condemning the transfers, calling them “an escalation by both Iran and Russia” and “a direct threat to European security.”
Experts agree that short-range ballistic missiles could be a boost to Moscow’s war effort in neighboring Ukraine, which already benefits from Iranian drone supplies and technology.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s statement said Iran Air — the country’s flagship airline — was one of the entities designated for sanctions. It said its actions against the airline and other entities, individuals, and vessels were “concurrent” with actions announced by international partners.
“Iran Air has a history of transporting goods on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics,” the department said. “Iran has also provided freight shipping services to Russia, including shipments of electronics and aircraft parts.”
Iran-based Azadegan Transportation Co., another IRGC-affiliated company critical to the logistics operations of the IRGC, is another of the entities hit by U.S. sanctions, which freeze any assets the individuals and entities hold in U.S. jurisdiction and bar any transactions with U.S. persons.
Peter Stano, spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, said the transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia represents a further military escalation and will be met with a “strong response” from the European Union.
The EU’s diplomatic service has already presented EU members with “a substantial set of decisive and targeted measures” against Iran in response to the transfer, Stano said.
“A delivery of ballistic missiles will likely assist Russia’s escalatory bombing campaign against Ukrainian civilians, cities and civilian infrastructure, further increasing civilian casualties and destruction,” Stano said.
Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, said new sanctions against Iran over the missile deliveries would be a “positive step” but said it was not enough.
“We also need authorization to use Western weapons against military targets on Russian territory, the provision of longer-range missiles, and the enhancement of our air-defense systems,” Yermak said on X.
The Wall Street Journal and other U.S. media have quoted anonymous sources asserting that the Iranian missiles have come at a crucial juncture in the 36-month-old full-scale invasion.
Support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion is one of the main agenda items during Blinken’s London visit, which was to include a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Reiterating ongoing U.S. and U.K. support for Kyiv, Blinken and Lammy announced their plans to travel this week to Ukraine in what Lammy called “the first joint visit of this kind for well over a decade.”
“This is a troubling action that we’re seeing from Iran,” Lammy said. “It is definitely a significant escalation and we are coordinating.”
The Blinken-Lammy meeting came with the secretary of Iran’s Security Council, Ali Akbar Ahmadian, in Russia for a meeting later this week of security officials from countries in the BRICS grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa and other major emerging economies.
Lammy said the United States and the United Kingdom are “completely aligned on the need to tackle Iran’s malign activity in the region and beyond.”
“We’re seeing a disturbing pattern of greater Iranian support for the Kremlin’s illegal group, and we discussed today our shared commitment to holding Tehran to account for their undermining of global stability,” Lammy said.
Blinken said the alleged Iranian supply of short-range ballistic missiles gives Russia added capability and flexibility and would free up Moscow to devote other resources to longer-range targets in the ongoing war on Ukraine.
