Polish foreign ministry condemns Iran for sending missiles to Russia

WARSAW

The Polish Foreign Ministry said Iranian support for Russia was “unacceptable” after reports surfaced that Tehran was sending ballistic missiles to Russia.

"We join condemnation of the recent transfer of Iranian-made ballistic missiles to Russia. Iran’s involvement in supporting Russia is unacceptable," it wrote on X late Friday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the UK’s Foreign Minister David Lammy said earlier this week that Fath 360 ballistic missiles with a range of up to 120 kilometers (72 miles) had been sent by Tehran to Russia and would likely be used against Ukraine.

The US then imposed new sanctions on Iran and reports indicate the EU may follow suit.

Tehran has denied the reports but the Kremlin has not denied the information.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Joe Biden met this week but did not announce a decision on allowing Kyiv to fire long-range missiles into Russia after the White House expressed "deep concern about Iran and North Korea's provision of lethal weapons to Russia."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that Russia launched 70 Iranian-made drones into Ukraine overnight and urged Western allies to bolster Ukraine’s air defense and long-range capabilities "to protect life and our people."

Commenting on the allegations at a news conference Wednesday in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they “have no grounds.”

“We hear a lot of statements about some kind of supplies of some kind of weapons to the Russian Federation, they all have no grounds,” he said.

Separately, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani also refuted the claims.

“We categorically reject statements about the supply of weapons from Iran to one of the parties to the war in Ukraine. Those who accuse Iran are themselves the largest arms exporters of one of the warring parties and play an important role in destabilizing Ukraine,” he said.