US to establish group to target Russian-Iranian relations: WH

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
9 Dec 2022 22:29
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White House official says US working to create group of "like-minded" nations to address Russian Iranian relations

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (L) within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on September 15, 2022 (Iranian Presidency Office release)

Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House John Kirby stated on Friday that the US is considering options to form a group that includes so-called "like-minded" countries to talk over the military cooperation between Tehran and Moscow.

“We're looking at options to bring together a group of like-minded countries to discuss Iran -Russian military cooperation,” Kirby said in a briefing.

"We even believe that Iran is considering the sale of hundreds of ballistic missiles from Iran to Russia," Kirby added, noting that, "We expect Iranian support for the Russian military to only grow in coming months."

The US accuses Iran of supplying Russia with drones for use in the war in Ukraine, an accusation Tehran consistently denies.

Earlier in October, 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."

While US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan made the first anti-Iran allegations of selling unmanned drones to Russia, which he argued would pose a threat if used in Ukraine, he stated on July 13 that the US has no evidence of such trade between the two nations.

"We have not seen evidence of delivery, but we have seen evidence of engagement between the two countries on this specific issue of large numbers of UAVs, including weapons-enabled UAVs for Russia to acquire from Iran," Sullivan said in his statement then.

The European Union and the US have imposed sanctions against a number of Iranian individuals and entities over claims of developing and delivering Iranian drones to Russia to use against Ukraine.