EU members agreed on new sanctions against Iran, accused of supplying drones used by the Russian military in Ukraine, the Czech Republic, which holds the EU presidency, announced on Thursday. Moscow condemned on Thursday the “pressure” exerted on Tehran by Washington and Brussels, Reuters and AFP reported.
Earlier in the day, EU member states agreed to sanctions that take effect Thursday against three individuals and organizations accused of supplying Russia with Iranian drones used in Ukraine, the Czech EU presidency announced.
“EU ambassadors have agreed to take measures against organizations that supply Iranian drones that have struck Ukraine,” the Czech Presidency of the EU said on Twitter.
“EU countries have decided to freeze the assets of three individuals and an organization responsible for drone deliveries (and) also intend to extend sanctions to four other Iranian organizations that were already on the previous sanctions list.”
According to a list of sanctions seen by AFP before they were approved, the sanctions specifically target Iran’s Shahed Aviation Industries, which is linked to Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard and the maker of Shahed drones used by Russia in Ukraine, as well as three military officials, including General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri. , Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran.
For its part, Kyiv welcomed the EU’s “quick” response.
Russia accused Tehran of putting pressure on it
“Everything that is being done now is subordinated to one goal: (to put) pressure on this country. And for this, Washington is mobilizing NATO and EU countries to support its position, that’s obvious,” criticized the spokeswoman of the ministry. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Maria Zakharova at a press conference.
She called accusations that Russia is using Iranian drones to attack Ukraine “unfounded conclusions” and “strange assumptions that Britain and France are trying to build.”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba on Twitter appreciated the “quick” reaction of the European Union to the introduction of these sanctions.
On Monday, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry asked the EU to tighten sanctions against Iran after Moscow carried out several attacks on the Ukrainian capital and other regions, which it attributed to Iranian-made kamikaze drone strikes.
The Air Force of Ukraine announced on Wednesday that it had destroyed 223 Iranian drones since mid-September.
At the United Nations on Wednesday, Russia and Iran strongly denied any supply of armed drones by Tehran to Moscow, while the EU announced at the same time that it had collected “evidence” showing the use of such Iranian weapons in Ukraine by Russian forces.
A Russian Defense Ministry official in Moscow made a serious mistake when invited to the set of a news show, asking the hosts not to ask him about Iranian drones being used by Russia, not realizing it was already on air.
“We all know that they are Iranians, but the authorities have not recognized this,” said Ruslan Mykolayovych Pukhov, director of the Center for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow, a member of the Public Council of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. air without giving the hosts a break to tell him again that they were live. However, the presenter continues as if nothing happened with the prepared question.
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Source: Hot News RO
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