Ukraine suggests cutting ties with Iran

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Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said during an online briefing on Tuesday that he submitted a proposal to Ukraine's President Volodimir 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. 

"Given the massive destruction caused to Ukraine's civilian infrastructure by Iranian drones, deaths and suffering inflicted on our people, and also due to reports of the possible continuation of arms supplies from Iran to Russia, I am submitting a proposal to break off diplomatic relations with Iran for the president's consideration," Kuleba said.

Kuleba added that for relations to be restored, this would require Tehran to cease the alleged supplies of weapons to Russia.

Earlier today, Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksiy Goncharenko tweeted about his submitting of a resolution on severing diplomatic relations with Iran which has yet to be published on the resolution has not yet been published on the website of the Ukrainian parliament.

Ukraine will break diplomatic relations with Iran!

I submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a resolution on severing diplomatic relations with Iran and recognizing it as a state sponsor of terrorism. pic.twitter.com/F7AyasjoqK

— Oleksiy Goncharenko (@GoncharenkoUa) October 18, 2022

"The [Verkhovna] Rada [the Ukrainian parliament] must appeal to the UN, the European Parliament, PACE [the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe], the Parliamentary Assembly of OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe], NATO and the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, as well as to the governments of the world with a call for taking the necessary measures, recognizing Iran as a sponsor of terrorism and strengthening sanctions," Goncharenko said on Telegram.

Initial allegations were issued on July 12 when White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said that information sourced from a US top official suggests that Iran is planning to supply Russia with hundreds of combat drones for use in the war with Ukraine. 

Moments after the issue of this statement, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani confirmed to reporters there has been "no special development" in Russia and Iran's military relationship, validating that no weapons were supplied.

On September 23, an Israeli arms manufacturing company had decided to supply Kiev with air defense systems to counter Iranian-manufactured drones, which was claimed by the US that Russia has obtained.

On September 24, Ukrainian presidential press secretary Sergey Nikiforov said Ukraine was reducing Iran's diplomatic presence in the country, claiming that Tehran has been supplying Russia with weapons to use against Kiev's forces, with Iran's chargé d'affaires having been summoned over these issues. 

Israeli West Asia affairs analyst Seth Frantzman wrote in The Jerusalem Post said on October 13 that Russia is increasingly using Iranian drones in Ukraine, which is a threat that "must be taken seriously" in the international arena, not only in the countries' respective regions.

The report stated that Russia is using the Shahed-136/Geran-2 type kamikaze drone against Ukraine, with many reports surfacing about the matter in recent days. According to Frantzman, for all anyone knows, Russia could have ordered thousands of the drones, or could even be manufacturing them locally.

Earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian strongly denied Iran's sale of drones and weapons to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine, stressing that the Islamic Republic of Iran "supports the political solution to the crisis in Ukraine." 

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned these allegations and accused the US of fabricating news. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in turn, said that the Russian government had no information about the supplies of Iranian drones and that such questions must be asked to the Russian Defense Ministry. 

Earlier today, White House Spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters, "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," adding, "Russia deepening an alliance with Iran is something the whole world -- especially those in the region and across the world, frankly -- should be seeing as a profound threat."

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