NEW YORK (AFP) - The US, UK, France and Germany on Tuesday announced new sanctions on Iran for supplying Russia with short-range ballistic missiles to use in its war in Ukraine. US sanctions targeted Russian and Iranian entities while France, Britain and Germany canceled bilateral air agreements with Iran.
The United States on Tuesday unveiled fresh sanctions against more than a dozen firms and individuals in Russia and Iran in response to what it called Iran's "escalatory" decision to send ballistic missiles to Russia.
The sanctions targeted 10 people and six companies for their involvement in supporting Iran's defence sector and identified four vessels involved in "enabling Iran's delivery of weapons components and weapons systems", the US Treasury Department said in a statement.
"Today, the United States and our allies are taking concerted action in response to Iran's reckless decision to proliferate ballistic missiles to Russia for use in its war of aggression against Ukraine," said Wally Adeyemo, the deputy secretary of the US Treasury.
"Iran has opted to intensify its involvement in Russia's illegal war, and the United States, along with our partners, will continue to stand with Ukraine," he added.
Alongside the sanctions announced Tuesday, "the Department of State is concurrently designating three entities, including Iran Air, and identifying five vessels as blocked property involved in the proliferation of Iranian weapons systems to Russia", the Treasury Department said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Britain, France and Germany announced new sanctions targeting Iran's air transport, including the cancellation of bilateral air service agreements with the Islamic Republic.
The UK said it had started terminating "all direct air services between the UK and Iran" as part of new sanctions on Tehran.
London said the move would "restrict Iran Air's ability to fly into the UK".
"We will continue to use every lever at our disposal to put pressure on Iran to end its support for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's illegal invasion, which is why we have begun the termination of all direct air services between the UK and Iran," UK Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said shortly after the sanctions were announced.
The joint statement from Britain, France and Germany called Iran's move a "direct threat" to Europe.
"This is a further escalation of Iran's military support to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and will see Iranian missiles reaching European soil, increasing the suffering of the Ukrainian people," the so-called E3 powers said.
"This act is an escalation by both Iran and Russia, and is a direct threat to European security," the statement read.
IRANIAN DENIALS
A spokesperson for the Iran's foreign ministry denied that Iran had made the weapons transfers to Russia, in a message posted on the social media platform X.
In London, visiting Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States would also impose sanctions on Iran and that Russia could use the Iranian missiles against Ukraine "within weeks".
Dozens of Russian military personnel have trained in Iran using the Fath-360 missile, which has a range of 75 miles (120 kilometres), he added.
"Iran's new president and foreign minister have repeatedly said that they want to restore engagement with Europe," he said.
"They want to receive sanctions relief. Destabilising actions like these will achieve exactly the opposite."
But Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanani, in a post on X, said that the Western claims were false and merely a distraction from US backing for Israel in its war against Hamas militants.
JOINT UKRAINE VISIT
"Spreading false and misleading news about the transfer of Iranian weapons to some countries is just an ugly propaganda and lie with the aim of concealing the dimensions of the massive illegal arms support of the United States and some Western countries for the genocide in the Gaza Strip," he added.
The State Department said that Blinken would travel to Kyiv on Wednesday in a solidarity trip with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
"We are the closest of allies, so I'm delighted that we will travel together, demonstrating our commitment to Ukraine," Lammy said, calling it the first such joint trip in years.