Iran banding with Russia to undermine 'our' global order - EU chief
Von der Leyen accuses Teheran of banding with Russia to undermine the global order by providing weapons, such as drones.
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via Twitter (@vonderleyen)
The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday that the alleged proliferation of weapons by Iran was a threat to Europe.
Her statements hinted that to preparations were underway for an additional package of sanctions against Iran.
Von der Leyen accused Teheran of banding with Russia to undermine "our global order" by providing weapons, such as drones, she said during the Manama Dialogue conference on Friday.
"Several Gulf countries have been warning for years about the risk that Iran feeds rogue nations around the world with drones," von der Leyen said on Friday.
"It took us too long to understand a very simple fact that while we work to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, we must also focus on other forms of weapons proliferation, from drones to ballistic missiles."
"It is a security risk not just for the Middle East, but for us all," she added.
On November 14, the EU imposed sanctions on 29 Iranian officials and three organizations for the alleged crackdown on the western-backed riots following the death of Mahsa Amini.
AFP states that Tehran vowed a "proportionate and firm" response to the EU over the expanded sanctions, but no source affiliated with the Iranian government has ever published that.
"We are coordinating with partners and allies to take further sanctions against Iran responding to the proliferation of Iranian drones," von der Leyen said.
On November 5, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told reporters that Iran did provide Russia with drones prior to the start of the conflict, but it never supplied it with missiles, and never supplied any sort of weaponry since the conflict began in February this year.
Last Tuesday, Ukraine's military said it suffered its greatest missile attack since the conflict began, with an alleged 26 kamikaze drones along with 111 Russian missile strikes.
The strikes follow Russia's withdrawal from Kherson and are specifically targeting Ukraine's crucial energy infrastructure in a bid to pressure Kiev over Moscow's retreat from Kherson.
Earlier today, Ukraine's Prime Minister said that Denys Shmyhal said on Friday that about half of Ukraine's energy grid has been out of order due to Russia's missile strikes on Tuesday.
"On November 15, Russia fired around 100 missiles at Ukrainian cities. Almost half of our energy infrastructure is out of order. Under these circumstances we surely need additional support from our European partners," Shmyhal said at a press conference on Friday.
Von der Leyen went ahead to say that Iran and Russia were "teaming up" to "undermine the basic rules and principles of our global order".
"It is a recipe for constant foreign interference, for never-ending violence and instability. And we simply cannot accept this. And we will not accept this," she said.
The EU President added that Europe has replaced most of its Russian gas with supplies from "reliable" sources - which is a highly suspicious statement considering that nothing has be said yet about the finding of a "reliable" source.
"Our storages are full at 95 percent -- and we are safe for this winter. Our challenge will be next year's winter," she said.
Read more: Khuzestan bids farewell to martyrs, 11 perpetrators detained
Ever since Iran gained complete autonomy following its 1979 revolution, the country has been the target of unjust and excruciating sanctions from the West.
Despite this, Iran managed to gain almost 100% military self-sufficiency in the production of drones.
Although Iran offered to help the EU with its energy needs, the bloc has instead aimed at sabotaging the country by sending spies and foreign agents and commissioning dissidents to disrupt the country's civil order.
Amini died of health complications on September 16 while under police custody in Tehran.
Her death initially sparked sporadic protests after it was thought that the police were responsible for her death.
But later, protests kept growing despite reports showing her death was caused by illness.
Read more: Terrorist attacks caused by West's failure to destabilize Iran: Gov
