The US and its European allies say Russia and Iran violated a UN resolution and called for an investigation into allegations that Tehran provided UAVs to Moscow.
"Earlier this month, the United States provided additional documentation on how Iran supplied Russia with hundreds of attack UAVs and related UAV manufacturing equipment. Ukraine and the United Kingdom also provided evidence of Iranian UAVs that Kiev had collected," US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on June 23.
In a joint statement with the UK, France, Ukraine and Albania, Ms. Thomas-Greenfield said that Russia not only violated UN Resolution 2231 by receiving hundreds of Mohajer and Shahed UAVs from Iran, but was also coordinating with Tehran to produce these weapons on its territory.
"Russia recently used UAVs to attack Kiev, destroying infrastructure and causing casualties among Ukrainian people. The UN must respond to the growing calls from the international community and investigate these violations," according to the US Ambassador.
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya objected, saying that the information from his US counterpart was "baseless" and aimed at misleading the international community. "We hope that the UN Secretary-General will fulfill his duties and not give in to pressure from a group of countries," he said.
Iran's representative to the UN accused US Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield of a speech as a political ploy to smear Iran over its involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.
Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, told Fox News that the agency will continue to analyze relevant information and inform the Security Council.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks before a Security Council meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, US on June 23. Photo: AFP
Resolution 2231 was adopted by the 15 members of the UN Security Council in 2015 to support the nuclear deal between Iran and major powers and control arms transfers from Iran.
“That resolution prohibits any country, including permanent members of the Security Council, from transferring weapons from Iran without approval,” said Ms. Thomas-Greenfield. “Of course, there was no approval in this case.”
Since October 2022, Russia has increased the use of Geran-2 UAVs to attack Ukraine. Geran-2 is assessed to have the same size and shape as Iran's Shahed-136 model, causing the West to repeatedly accuse Moscow of using Tehran's suicide UAVs on the Ukrainian battlefield.
However, Iran has insisted that it only supplied UAVs to Russia before the war broke out. Russia has also claimed that it only used domestically produced UAVs to attack Ukraine. The US has sanctioned the executives of an Iranian defense factory for allegedly supplying UAVs to Russia.
The Ukrainian parliament in late May approved a 50-year package of sanctions against Iran, accusing it of sending weapons to support Russia's campaign.
Nhu Tam (According to Fox News, Iran Press )
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