The European Union is working on new sanctions against Iran that could be imposed as early as this week over Russia’s use of Iranian drones in Ukraine, a European diplomat told CNN.

These ongoing EU efforts come as the UN Security Council is set to discuss Iran’s drones in a closed session in New York on Wednesday.

But diplomats warn they don’t expect to be able to get new sanctions through the Security Council because they would be vetoed by Russia.

The State Department said the US would “welcome” EU sanctions against Iran for supplying Russia with drones for its invasion of Ukraine.

State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said the US was “coordinating closely with the EU” but declined to elaborate on those discussions.

“I would like to note and reiterate that the United States continues to have practical, aggressive and useful tools available to hold Iran accountable,” Patel said, “and you’ve seen us take these steps against Iranian malevolence.”

Iran continues to insist that it does not provide drones to Russia and has always opposed the continuation of the war in Ukraine

Iranian officials have denied reports that the country is sending weapons, including military drones, to Russia for the war in Ukraine, calling them “false”. CNN.

Iran “has always opposed the continuation of the war [din Ucraina]”, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, Nasser Kanaani, said, adding that Iran is ready to talk with Ukraine to resolve these accusations,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Earlier on Tuesday, Reuters reported, citing two Iranian officials and two Iranian diplomats, that Iran had promised to supply Russia with surface-to-surface missiles as well as additional drones.

According to Reuters, the pledges were made when several Iranian officials visited Moscow in October.

“The Russians have asked for more drones and Iranian ballistic missiles with increased accuracy, especially the Fateh and Zolfaghar family of missiles,” one Iranian diplomat briefed on the trip told Reuters.

Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said he had seen the reports but had “no information at this time to confirm them.”

Iranian drones used by Moscow are a symbol of its “military-political bankruptcy,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said Tuesday evening.

In recent weeks, Ukraine reported a series of Russian strikes from Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones.

Iran has repeatedly denied supplying Russia with weapons this month.

NATO will deliver anti-drone systems to Ukraine in the coming days

NATO will deliver air defense systems to Ukraine in the coming days to help the country defend itself against drones, including Iranian drones, that Russia uses to target critical infrastructure, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

“The most important thing we can do is to fulfill what the allies promised, to strengthen and put more air defense systems,” he said.

“In the coming days, NATO will deploy anti-drone systems to counter the very threat of these drones, including from Iran,” Stoltenberg said.

Ukraine said drone “swarms” had destroyed nearly a third of its power plants in the past week, as Russia stepped up its attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure far from the front line after suffering a series of military setbacks against Ukrainian forces.

The Kremlin says they do not know whether the Russian military is using Iranian drones in Ukraine

On Tuesday, the Kremlin said it had “no information” about the use of Iranian-made drones in a “special military operation” against Ukraine.

The comments came from Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, after he was asked at a daily news conference about reports that the Russian armed forces used drones obtained from Iran in attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities on Monday.

Kremlin-accredited journalists directly asked Peskov whether Russia was buying drones from Iran.

“No, we do not have such information. Russian equipment is used, you know that, with Russian names. All other questions can be addressed to the Ministry of Defense,” Peskov answered.

The Iranian Shahed 136 drones are called “Herad-2” by the Russian Armed Forces.

Under pressure from journalists in Moscow, Peskov replied again that “no, we do not have such information.”

On Monday, Iran again denied that it had supplied drones to the Russian military, despite numerous photos and videos documenting their use by Russia in the war in Ukraine.

• Read also: We did not give Russia military drones, Iran calmly claims

Since the summer, the United States has warned that Moscow has requested hundreds of military drones from Iran for use in Ukraine.

Tehran assured that it would not sell military UAVs to Moscow, but literally a day later, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan presented satellite images showing Iranian drones being inspected by a Russian delegation on June 8.

At the end of August, a representative of the Washington administration said that these drones of the Mohajer-6 and Shahed series had already arrived in Russia.

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