The U.S. accused Iran and China Tuesday of helping Russia bolster its military capabilities to keep up its war against Ukraine in the face of U.S. sanctions and NATO support for Ukraine’s defense.
U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken said Iran sent Russia ballistic missiles that will allow it to focus more of its artillery on long-range Ukrainian targets, despite repeated warnings from the U.S. that doing so represents a significant escalation of its involvement in the Ukraine war.
“Dozens of Russian military personnel have been trained in Iran to use the Fath-360 close-range ballistic missile system, which has a maximum range of 75 miles. Russia has now received shipments of these ballistic missiles and will likely use them within weeks in Ukraine against Ukrainians,” Blinken told reporters at an event in London with British foreign secretary David Lammy.
“The United States will be announcing further sanctions on Iran later today, including additional measures on Iran Air. We expect allies and partners will be announcing their own new measures on Iran as well,” he added.
Additionally, U.S. deputy secretary of state Kevin Campbell told reporters Tuesday that China is helping Russia sustain its war machine in exchange for sensitive submarine and missile technology, further strengthening the close ties between the two authoritarian nations.
“These are component pieces of a very substantial effort on the part of China to help sustain, build and diversify various elements of the Russian war machine,” Campbell said.
“We’re seeing efforts at the highest levels of both governments to try to both hide and protect certain elements of this worrisome collaboration … Most of these activities have been driven underground.”
The U.S. imposed sanctions on Iran Air for allowing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps to obtain western military-related materials and enabling Iran to transfer materials for Russia to deploy against Ukraine. The U.S. is also sanctioning two Russian shipping companies for transporting Iranian weaponry and equipment to Russia through the Caspian Sea.
The Biden administration previously relaxed sanctions on Iran as it attempted to revive the Obama administration’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, otherwise known as the Iran nuclear deal.
The U.S. has given significant military and financial support to Ukraine’s war of self-defense against Russia’s invasion over two years ago. American authorities are currently cracking down on alleged Russian attempts to interfere in the 2024 presidential election with online propaganda and social-media accounts.
Iran is waging a campaign through terrorist proxy organizations to destabilize the Middle East and threaten Israel’s security. Israel continues to fight its war in Gaza against Hamas, one of Iran’s proxies, and defend itself against strikes from Hezbollah, another Iranian proxy, in northern Israel.
Blinken reiterated America’s commitment to Israel’s self defense and the Biden administration’s push to finalize a cease-fire deal to pause the Israel-Hamas conflict. Iran has threatened to retaliate against Israel for the recent deaths of top Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, potentially escalating the conflict into a full-scale regional war.
Meanwhile, Iran is attempting to influence U.S. elections with cyber warfare and targeting U.S. officials involved in the Trump administration’s drone strike on high-ranking commander Qasem Soleimani four years ago. An Iranian-government backed group was behind the hack on former president Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and the attempted hack of the Biden-Harris campaign.
Iranian attackers gained access to internal Trump campaign documents and sent them to various media outlets, but none of them have published the illegally obtained materials. Moreover, a Pakistani national with ties to Iran is facing criminal charges for plotting to hire hitmen and assassinate Trump, a separate plot from the failed attempt on Trump’s life in Butler, Pa. two months ago.