On Monday 9 September, Peter Stano, spokesman for the European External Action Service, announced that the West had “credible information” on deliveries of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia.
“We are aware of credible information provided by our allies on the delivery of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia”, he explained to various media, including Agence Europe. “We are looking further into it with our Member States and, if confirmed, this delivery would represent a substantive material escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine”, he added.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the United States has informed its European allies of the delivery of Iranian short-range missiles to Russia. Mr Stano reiterated that the “unanimous position” of EU leaders had “always been clear” and that the European Union would respond “swiftly and in coordination” with its international partners, including with “new and significant” restrictive measures against Iran.
Russia has not denied any such deliveries, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov simply pointing out that “this type of information (was) not always true”. For its part, Iran “categorically” denied, via Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani, “the claims that Iran has played a role in the export of arms to one of the parties to the conflict”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)