With UN Sanctions Expired, Russia To Expand Military Ties With Iran
After the end of the UN's sanctions on Iran's missile program, Russia has announced plans to deepen military ties with the regime.
After the end of the UN's sanctions on Iran's missile program, Russia has announced plans to deepen military ties with the regime.
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov made the announcement on Wednesday, just days after the October 18 expiration which now allows Iran to sell drones, ballistic missiles, and long-range strike technologies to its anti-Western partners and clients. Ending the sanctions also means Iran can now purchase its own technology to further develop its capabilities.
“We will develop our cooperation on a mutually beneficial basis as we did before - in full compliance with international obligations and existing regimes in this area," Ryabkov said. "Now, after the expiration of some restrictive provisions of resolution 2231, there are fewer such restrictive regimes. Naturally, we will be using this, and it should not raise any questions for anyone.”
Iran, a historical ally of Russia, is accused of supplying lethal drones to Moscow for use in Ukraine, but it has asserted its neutrality in the conflict.
Earlier, the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control took measures in response to the expiration of the UN arms embargo against Iran by imposing sanctions on 11 individuals, eight entities, and one vessel based in Iran, China, Hong Kong, and Venezuela.
These sanctions were applied on the grounds that these entities allegedly supported Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard, Ministry of Defense, and Armed Forces Logistics in their efforts related to missile and drone production and proliferation.
The Iranian regime’s foreign minister is scheduled to speak at the UN Security Council on Thursday. Just this week, he met with leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as it becomes harder for the regime to deny its hand in a war which now threatens to involve multiple fronts. The US and UK have been moving warships to the region and US troops are also headed to the Middle East.
Its Palestinian proxy Hamas declared war on Israel on October 7, when thousands of its troops slaughtered at least 1,400 and took at least 220 hostages to Gaza.
The hostages, which include women, the elderly, the sick and babies, are from dozens of nationalities, including Americans. Other American citizens were slaughtered in the massacre which saw thousands of Hamas militants run rampage in Israeli towns and villages.
Since then, its proxy Hezbollah has been upping its offensive on Israel’s northern border while proxies in Yemen and Syria have also sent missiles towards Israel.
Many have demanded answers, including former senate aide Richard Goldberg who said: “The White House needs to explain right now: Why did it allow an agent of the regime behind the 10/7 Hamas massacre into the country? Whether it will be allowing him to leave the country while Americans are held hostage?”
National security expert Norman Roule, also put the blame for the atrocities of October 7 in the hands of Iran, which continues to deny responsibility for the most deadly day for Jews since the Holocaust, but incites each day for further action from both its proxies and the global population.
“Thousands dead at the hands of proxies of the regime this individual is proud to represent,” Roule wrote on X. “The funerals of the dead ongoing as he sits in New York luxury. Abdollahian's presence in the US is a cruel act for the many American and other families who have been forever broken by terrorists he celebrates.”
Senator Joni Ernst accused Biden of appeasing Iran in a bid to resume nuclear talks, amid increasing attacks on US troops in the Middle East. At least 13 attacks have been carried out against US bases in Iraq and Syria in the last week.
“Iran-backed terrorists have attacked our service members and are currently holding Americans hostage. But the Biden administration has granted a top Iranian official a visa — welcoming this regime on US soil with open arms. The appeasement must end,” she wrote on X.
The controversy echoes the sentiment which met President Ebrahim Raisi on his visit in September to the UN General Assembly. While an investigation is underway for the mass human rights abuses inflicted on Iranians since last year’s Women, Life, Freedom movement’s protests, he was given a platform, along with his wife, to claim Iranian women had full rights and freedom.
During the visit, he claimed the protests were merely propaganda and slammed the US and the West for meddling in Iranian affairs.
Each year, the regime funds Hamas with at least $100m in addition to providing training, technology and military equipment to the Gazan militants, designated by the US, UK and EU.
Mark Wallace, CEO of United Against a Nuclear Iran, blasted Amir-Abdollahian for being “involved in planning for Hamas’ attack on Israel” claiming he “should never have been allowed into the US after having the blood of Americans on his hands”.
As the IRGC - designated in the US - comes under increasing fire, and the UK recently admitting Iran is the country’s greatest threat, the welcoming of Amir-Abdollahian shows the immunity the regime’s leaders have as they continue to move freely.
Hossein Salami, the Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Guards, has also spoken openly about the regime’s ongoing support for the Hamas war on Israel, warning against an Israeli ground invasion which last night, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said was imminent.
Salami warned: ”Israelis have no way other than bombing Gaza; if they move on the ground, the dragon of Gaza will devour them." He described this event as "one of the most memorable" defeats in which "America, England, and Israel joined forces”.
Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against a Nuclear Iran, accused the US of double standards in its foreign policy when it comes to Iran, citing the US refusal of a visa to the previous foreign minister, Javad Zarif, in 2020.
“Abdollahian has the blood of Americans on his hands as he is an IRGC terrorist operative and US forces are currently under fire while this man is being offered entry, protected by US security,” he said, outraged.
Under the US-UN Host Agreement, for security, terrorism, and foreign policy concerns, there is an exception under which the US can deny entry to a foreign official for UN meetings.
“There is precedent for this and it should have been exercised in this case. An outrage,” he said.
