Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian claimed on Sept. 23 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York that his country had never supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine and denied supplying ballistic missiles to Russia, the Guardian reported.
Washington confirmed on Sept. 10 earlier media reports that Russia had received shipments of Iranian Fath-360 close-range ballistic missiles. A day prior, Iran denied it had delivered ballistic missiles to Russia, claiming the ongoing reports were "psychological warfare."
"We are willing to sit down with the Europeans and the Americans to have a dialogue and negotiations. We have never approved of Russian aggression against Ukrainian territory," Pezeshkian claimed in New York.
Pezeshkian became the country's president on Aug. 30, 2024. During his first press conference after taking office he also denied supplying ballistic missiles to Russia.
"There may have been such deliveries in the past. But I can assure you that there have been no such deliveries to Russia since I took office," Pezeshkian said.
Ukraine, the E.U., and the U.S. introduced more sanctions against Iran in the wake of the confirmation of the missile delivery to Russia.
The confirmation of the deliveries marked a "further escalation of Iran's military support to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine," the U.K., France, and Germany said in their Sept. 10 joint statement.
Russia and Iran have deepened their military and political cooperation since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Tehran has provided Moscow with thousands of Shahed kamikaze drones used in attacks against Ukraine.
Chris York
(Updated: )
