Recipe from Iran: How to become pariah country

Iran is burying itself in an even bigger sanctions pit by supplying weapons to Russia, which uses them in the war against Ukraine, Report informs.

All talks about the possible easing of sanctions for the purchase of Iranian gas to replace the Russian fuel began to subside when the US, UK and the European Union called to study the situation with the supply of Russian arms and discuss new sanctions against Iran. Some measures have already been taken, and sanctions are being prepared against the Shahed-136 drone company and three Iranian generals.

Matthew Bryza, Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, International Expert and former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan, told Report that the US would most likely follow the path of further tightening sanctions against Iran.

More US sanctions are likely to be imposed on Iran, both because of the supply of weapons to Russia, and because of the Iranian regime’s prosecution of protesters after the murder of a young girl by the morality police for ‘wrong wearing a hijab’, Bryza said.

According to the New York Times, the US has already announced its intention to impose sanctions, and the State Department said it was ready to do so without hesitation.

Moscow denies using Iranian-made drones in Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the West was seeking to put pressure on Tehran. However, the other day a video was leaked to the Internet, where Ruslan Pukhov, a member of the Public Council under the Russian Ministry of Defense, without knowing he was on air, blurted out: “We all know that they are Iranian [drones], but the authorities don’t admit it.”

According to media reports, Iran has promised to provide Russia with surface-to-surface missiles in addition to more drones. Moreover, the Iranian side denies the accusations and doesn’t consider military cooperation with the Russian Federation a violation of the 2015 UN Security Council resolution.

“Where they are used is not the seller’s problem. We do not take sides in the Ukrainian crisis as the West does. We want to end the crisis through diplomatic means,” an unnamed Iranian official was quoted as saying.

As Bryza added, Iran, despite the sanctions, was able to develop missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, the process of uranium enrichment and has weapons potential.

The Iranian weapons supplied to Russia are capable of causing significant damage to Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, especially energy, he said. But they seem to have weak points because the Ukrainians shot down up to half of the Iranian drones that attacked them, Bryza noted.

Every time it seems that everyone is ready to give Iran a new chance to reintegrate into the world community, the government of this country manages to shock everyone with its next actions. In a world engulfed by the struggle for women’s rights, the environment and the attempt to stop the war in Ukraine, Iran somehow violates these fundamental principles, ‘burrowing’ itself into an even deeper sanctions pit.