By Pishtaz | 2024-09-15

The Iranian regime is facing fresh sanctions for supplying Russia with short-range missiles for imminent use against Ukraine, as Western powers warned that the regime's actions amounted to a "dangerous escalation" of the conflict.

Moscow has stepped up its aerial attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks, with ample evidence already pointing to its use of Iranian-designed drones.

Claiming Tehran had repeatedly defied warnings about the weapons transfers, Britain, France and Germany on September 10 said they would cut aviation agreements with the Islamic Republic and sanction its national carrier Iran Air.

"This act is an escalation by both Iran and Russia, and is a direct threat to European security," the E3 powers said in a joint statement.

The Iranian missiles could be used against Ukraine "within weeks," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned, noting that dozens of Russian military personnel have trained in Iran using the Fath-360 missile, which has a 120km range.

The British government said it had immediately begun "the termination of all direct air services between the UK and Iran."

The United States meanwhile accused Iran Air of "operating or having operated in the transportation sector of the Russian Federation economy," sanctioning it and five other entities and 10 individuals involved in the supply.

The European Union (EU) said September 9 its allies had shared intelligence Iran supplied Russia with ballistic missiles, a claim Tehran rejected but the Kremlin did not explicitly deny, AFP reported.

US media outlets had previously reported that Washington believed Iran had transferred the weapons to Russia for use on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Ukraine says it has been attacked with Iranian-designed Shahed drones on an almost daily basis from Russia, and has found fragments of North Korean missiles on its territory.

Russian drones in EU airspace

EU member Latvia said a Russian drone that crashed in its territory on September 7 was an Iranian-designed Shahed equipped with explosives.

"The explosive warhead stuck half a meter deep into the ground and was neutralized on the spot, avoiding detonation," Latvian armed forces commander Gen. Leonids Kalnins said September 9.

This "allowed our military intelligence officers to gather all the debris and remnants from the drone for further investigation, details of which will be shared with all of our NATO partners," he said.

Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics had previously noted that airspace breaches had increased along NATO's eastern borders.

Romania on September 9 said a Russian attack drone targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine entered its airspace overnight.

Fellow NATO member Poland also recorded at least two cases of its airspace being violated by Russian missiles or drones attacking Ukraine.