LONDON — Iran has sent short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday, and Washington has responded with sanctions for the move, which pulls Tehran further into the Ukraine conflict.
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“We’ve warned Tehran publicly, we’ve warned Tehran privately, that taking this step would be a dangerous escalation,” Blinken said. “Russia has now received shipments of these missiles.”
He added that Russia is likely to use the shipments within weeks. Hours later, the Biden administration, along with the governments of Britain, France and Germany, announced new sanctions on Tehran, including measures against Iran Air — the Islamic republic’s main commercial airline — and other people and entities with ties to the missile supply.
Iran and Russia signed a contract for the supply of “hundreds” of missiles in late 2023, the Treasury Department said in a statement. Russian military personnel trained on the use of the missiles in the summer. Russia received the first shipment earlier this month, the Treasury Department said.
Iran denies sending weapons to Russia. The Foreign Ministry in Tehran said in a statement that “dissemination of false and misleading information regarding the transfer of Iranian weapons to certain countries is nothing more than a vile propaganda ploy and a blatant lie.”
Russia has been on a global hunt to bolster its stockpiles, reasoning that if it can outlast Kyiv’s military backers and hammer the country into submission, it will eventually prevail. Iran has supplied Russia with attack drones. But until recently, it has held back from offering more-powerful weaponry, in apparent deference to U.S. and European warnings that doing so would trigger a wave of painful sanctions.
The Iranians’ move further extends the realignment of global actors that was accelerated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 — bringing together U.S. antagonists in Russia, China and Iran in an increasingly unified band seeking to undermine Washington’s global influence. Though none of the countries were friendly to the United States before the war, their mutual mistrust of each other previously kept them from working together effectively.
Russia has sent “dozens” of its military personnel to Iran for training on the close-range ballistic missile system, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said later Tuesday. White House officials identified the platform as the Fath-360.
Blinken, speaking in London following meetings with British officials, indicated that although Russia already has its own ballistic missiles that can strike within the 75-mile radius of the Iranian system, the new missiles will enable the Kremlin to reserve its own stocks for longer-range strikes and to use the Iranian missiles for closer targets. That could increase the peril for cities far from the front lines, such as Lviv, that until now have escaped the full brunt of Russian bombardment.
Iran has a new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, who has signaled a more moderate approach toward Washington and Europe. The weapons shipment to Moscow runs contrary to that effort, with European countries offering little tolerance for actions that tip the balance toward Russia’s side.
The top U.S. diplomat said that Iran was receiving Russian assistance on its nuclear program in return for sending missiles and that the security relationship is a “two-way street.”
The White House also warned about the deepening relationship.
“Both Iran and Russia get better because of this partnership. They share technology. They share tactics and procedures. They share intelligence. They share … geostrategic ways to better cooperate,” Kirby said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pushed back against those accusations.
“Not every time information of this kind corresponds to reality,” he told reporters. “We are developing dialogue with Iran in the most sensitive areas and will continue to do so.”
Iran also has been strongly involved in the conflict in the Middle East, supplying weaponry to its proxies, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, and at times striking directly against Israel. The United States and other nations have been focused on restraining Iran to avoid escalation toward a regional war, an effort that so far has been successful even amid the mounting civilian toll in Gaza.
At a news conference in Kyiv on Tuesday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said reports that Russia has received ballistic missiles from Iran are “very much of our immediate concern.”
Ukraine is bracing itself for a painful winter, with Russian attacks eroding its energy infrastructure and putting its population at risk for long stretches without power or heat. Officials are busy reinforcing critical energy infrastructure with sandbags and concrete to protect from Russian attacks, Shmyhal said, and will rely on air defense systems, including those promised by foreign partners.
As his country faces waves of Russian bombardment, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has become more vocal about his demand to be able to use long-range U.S. missile systems, known as ATACMS, against targets deep in Russian territory. President Joe Biden has so far barred their use inside Russia, worried it could be interpreted as an escalatory move against Moscow and draw Washington into a more direct confrontation with another nuclear power.
Zelensky on Friday made his case in person at a gathering of his military backers in Germany, including to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, but Austin remains unconvinced. The Defense Department continues to recommend against allowing ATACMS to be used inside Russian territory, a U.S. official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to be frank about internal discussions.
Blinken generally has been more open to Ukrainian requests than have others in the Biden administration, and Wednesday’s discussions in Kyiv will be a chance to hear directly from Zelensky and his newly reshuffled cabinet.
Asked Tuesday whether the Biden administration would reconsider its restrictions in the face of the Iranian support for Moscow, Blinken said he was open to hearing from the Ukrainians.
“All I can tell you is we’ll be listening to our Ukrainian partners,” he said.
Ukraine has already proved to its partners that it can target military objects inside Russia successfully and responsibly, Shmyhal said. Expanding the country’s ability to do so “means more security for our people, our civilians, our children, Ukraine,” he said.
U.S. officials, including Austin, have expressed skepticism that allowing ATACMS strikes in Russia would be a fundamental shift in the balance of the war, noting that more than 90 percent of the Russian jets that are launching fearsome glide bombs against Ukraine have already moved to airfields beyond the range of the U.S. missile system. They also note Ukraine’s dwindling missile stockpiles.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy will accompany Blinken to Kyiv, in his first visit since taking office in July.
Shortly afterward, Zelensky is expected to travel to the United States, where he will attend the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting of world leaders. He has also said he hopes to present a “victory plan” to Biden, one element of which involves his military’s recent surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.
O’Grady reported from Kyiv. Karen DeYoung in Washington contributed to this report.
