The Biden administration announced new sanctions on Iran’s national airline on Tuesday in response to its role in shipping ballistic missiles to Russia.
Speaking at a press conference in London, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the administration had warned Iran repeatedly against giving missiles to Moscow to use against Ukraine.
“We’ve warned Tehran publicly. We’ve warned Tehran privately that taking this step would constitute a dramatic escalation,” he said. “Russia has now received shipments of these ballistic missiles and will likely use them within weeks in Ukraine against Ukrainians.”
Blinken said that while Russia has its own ballistic-missile arsenal, the Iranian weapons will be used for shorter-range targets, freeing Russia to use its domestic stockpile to attack deeper into Ukraine. He added that in exchange for delivering the missiles, Russia is providing Iran with nuclear and space information technology.
In response to the missile delivery, the U.S. Treasury Department announced on Tuesday that it is imposing sanctions against Iran Air for its role in shipping cargo to Russia for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a U.S.-designated foreign terror organization.
France, Germany and the United Kingdom announced that they are also pursuing sanctions against Tehran and canceling their bilateral air services agreements with the Islamic Republic. Iran Air previously operated flights to London, Paris, Cologne, Munich and Hamburg and was the only Iranian carrier permitted to operate in European airspace.
Iran has long used its ostensibly civilian airlines for military purposes. In 2019, France banned Iran’s Mahan Air from entering the country for its role in shipping troops and arms to Syria and other Middle Eastern hotspots.
John Kirby, the White House national security communications advisor, told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday that it was not clear why Iran decided to deliver the ballistic missiles.
“I wish I could get inside the head of the supreme leader here and figure out why he’s doing what he’s doing. I can’t do that,” Kirby said. “Now we have seen, in fact, this deal get consummated, and so we’re making that public and doing something about it. But as for the exact timing, it’s difficult for us to know how they executed on this particular timeline.”
“What’s most relevant is that now Russia will have available to it additional ballistic missiles to rain down on the Ukrainian people and Ukrainian infrastructure,” he added.
Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that U.S. claims that Iran provided ballistic missiles to Russia are intended to distract from American support for Israel.
“Spreading false and misleading news about the transfer of Iranian weapons to some countries is just an ugly propaganda and lie with the aim of concealing the dimensions of the massive illegal arms support of the United States and some Western countries for the genocide in the Gaza Strip,” he wrote.
