Biden and Starmer express concern about Iran supplying arms to Russia

“They reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine as it continues to defend against Russia’s aggression,” the White House said in a statement on Friday.

“They expressed deep concern about Iran and North Korea’s provision of lethal weapons to Russia and the People’s Republic of China’s support to Russia’s defense industrial base,” it added.

On Tuesday, the US announced the measures against Iran Air and a number of Iranian and Russian shipping companies. The UK, France, and Germany followed suit by canceling bilateral agreements allowing Iran Air to enter their airspace, and by sanctioning Russian and Iranian companies, vessels, and individuals allegedly involved in the missile trade.

On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stressed that Tehran did not supply Moscow with ballistic missiles, despite what the “sanctions addicts” in the West claim.

In a post on X, Araghchi said that the US and its allies were acting “on false intelligence and false logic.”

“Iran has NOT delivered ballistic missiles to Russia. Period,” he wrote.

“Sanction addicts should ask themselves: how is Iran able to make and supposedly sell sophisticated arms?”

“Sanctions are not the solution but part of the problem,” he concluded.

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has also stressed that recent deliberations about alleged deliveries of weapons to Russia from abroad are groundless.

“We hear about a lot of allegations regarding some kind of supplies of some kind of weapons to Russia, but they are groundless,” Peskov told journalists on Thursday commenting on US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s recent statement that Iran had been allegedly supplying Russia with missiles.

“We are developing our relations with a number of countries, we are cooperating in various spheres, and we will continue this cooperation in the interests of all involved countries,” he added.