Iran Informs European Ambassadors it Did Not Supply Ballistic Missiles to Russia

The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassadors of the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands and Germany the day before over ‘unconstructive statements’ by these European countries regarding Iran's transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported.

‘The ministry separately summoned European diplomats on Thursday over their governments‘ statements about the transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine and further sanctions against the Islamic Republic,’ the statement said.

Director General for Western Europe at the Iranian Foreign Ministry Majid Nili called the West's ‘sanctions policy against the Iranian people’ hostile and denied the delivery of missiles to Russia.

‘As stated earlier, any allegation that the Islamic Republic of Iran has sold ballistic missiles to Russia is completely unfounded and false,’ the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

He lodged Iran's protest and condemned the ‘destructive statements and actions’ of the four Western powers.

As a reminder, on Tuesday, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 20 Iranian individuals, entities and ships for their involvement in the alleged transfer of short-range ballistic missiles to Russia. The UK, France and Germany also announced that they would ‘take immediate steps to cancel bilateral flights with Iran’ and ‘work to impose sanctions on Iran Air’. 

Earlier, it became known that the United States informed its allies that Iran had sent short-range ballistic missiles to Russia. The Wall Street Journal reports this with reference to intelligence sources. According to European officials, Washington recently informed its allies about Iran's actions.