Tehran denies arms transfers and calls new sanctions “economic terrorism.”
Iran has condemned accusations by Western countries that it has supplied short-range missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine and has pledged to respond to new sanctions imposed by a trio of European states.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani, in a statement issued late on Tuesday, reiterated Iran's denial of having supplied weapons and called the sanctions announced by Britain, France and Germany “economic terrorism” against the people of Iran.
He pledged that all three European countries would take “appropriate and proportionate action.”
France, Germany and the United Kingdom announced the sanctions on the same day after the United States formally accused Iran of supplying arms to Moscow.
The measures revoke bilateral agreements to provide air services to Iran and impose sanctions on the flag carrier Iran Air that will restrict its ability to fly to Europe.
“In addition, we will seek designations of key entities and individuals involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program and the transfer of ballistic missiles and other weapons to Russia,” the three European states said.
The Iranian spokesman's statement did not mention similar sanctions announced by the United States.
“Any claim that the Islamic Republic of Iran has sold ballistic missiles to the Russian Federation is completely baseless and false,” Kanaani said.
On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking alongside British Foreign Secretary David Lammy during a visit to London, said Russia had received shipments of ballistic missiles from Iran and would “likely use them within weeks in Ukraine.”
Warning that cooperation between Moscow and Tehran threatens broader European security, he added that dozens of Russian military personnel had received training in Iran on the use of the Fath-360 missile, which has a range of 120 kilometers (75 miles).
In a post on X, Kanaani said reports of the alleged transfers were “nasty propaganda” used to hide “large illegal arms support from the US and some Western countries to the genocide in Gaza.”
Iran is already one of the most sanctioned countries in the world, and some experts have questioned the impact of more economic sanctions that could hit the country's middle classes harder than its leaders.
