EU has no proof Iran is sending ballistic missiles to Russia: official
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A senior EU official says there is no evidence that Brussels has pointing to Iran sending ballistic missiles to Russia.
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An exclusive picture of the Great Prophet's exercise of the 17th Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (ProjectMeshkat)
The European Union has no evidence that Iran is sending shipments of ballistic missiles to Russia, a high-ranking EU official told reporters in Brussels on Friday, as reported by Russian news agency Sputnik.
However, the official claimed, Brussels has obtained "verified information" about Iran sending UAVs to Russia.
Iran has been facing accusations of having supplied weapons to Russia without any sustainable evidence. However, despite the Western allegations, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian revealed that Tehran gave a small batch of drones to Russia, but it was before the Ukraine war broke out.
"We supplied Russia with a limited number of drones months before the war in Ukraine," the official Iranian news agency IRNA quoted Amir-Abdollahian as saying in November.
The top Iranian diplomat went on to remind how Tehran requested that Kiev provide it with proof and documentation of Moscow's use of Iranian UAVs.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said during an online briefing late last year that he submitted a proposal to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to formally break off diplomatic ties with Tehran.
During the briefing, Kuleba accused Iran of having supplied weapons to Russia despite having no evidence to support his claims, and so did Zelensky before him.
Read next: Sanctions, blockade insufficient against Iran UAVs: National Interest
On the issue of ballistic missiles, US State Department Spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters a few months ago that "Anyone doing business with Iran that could have any link to UAVs or ballistic missile developments or the flow of arms from Iran to Russia should be very careful and do their due diligence -- the US will not hesitate to use sanctions or take actions against perpetrators."
The claims escalated to the point that Israeli media said Russia struck a covert agreement with Iran that will see the former manufacturing hundreds of Iranian UAVs on Russian soil.
There is new intelligence from the United States and other Western states that touched on this "secret deal", the Israeli Israel 24 News newspaper reported, further citing a Washington Post report from last month that said, "Moscow and Tehran had agreed in secret to begin manufacture of Iranian-designed drones on Russian soil."
