Iranian troops in Crimea for drone strikes
WASHINGTON, Oct 22, (Agencies): The White House said Thursday that Iranian troops are “directly engaged on the ground” in Crimea supporting Russian drone attacks on Ukraine’s power stations and other key infrastructure, claiming it has troubling evidence of Tehran’s deepening role assisting Russia as it exacts suffering on Ukrainian civilians just as the cold weather sets in.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Iran has sent a “relatively small number” of personnel to Crimea, a part of Ukraine unilaterally annexed by Russia in contravention of international law in 2014, to assist Russian troops in launching Iranian-made drones against Ukraine. Members of a branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps were dispatched to assist Russian forces in using the drones, according to the British government.
The revelation of the U.S. intelligence finding comes as the Biden administration seeks to mount international pressure on Tehran to pull back from helping Russia as it bombards soft Ukrainian civilian targets with the help of Iranianmade drones. The Russians in recent days have increasingly turned to the Iranian-supplied drones, as well as Kalibr and Iskander cruise missiles, to carry out a barrage of attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure and non-military targets. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this week that Russian forces have destroyed 30% of Ukraine’s power stations since Oct. 10.
“The information we have is that the Iranians have put trainers and tech support in Crimea, but it’s the Russians who are doing the piloting,” Kirby said.
He added that the Biden administration was looking at imposing new sanctions on Tehran and would look for ways to make it harder for Iran to sell such weapons to Russia.
The UK imposed sanctions on three Iranian individuals and one business, who are allegedly “responsible for supplying Russia with kamikaze drones” used in the UKraine campaign.
Those targetted include Chairman of the armed forces General Staff Maj Gen Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, the deal’s “key Iranian negotiator” Brig Gen Seyed Hojjatollah Qureishi and Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) head and Brig Gen Saeed Aghajani alongside Shahed Aviation Industries, the manufacturer of the Shahed drones, according to a Foreign Office statement. The Foreign Office went on to accuse Moscow of using the Iranian-made drones to attack civilians and critical infrastructure in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and other cities.
The US will “take every step necessary” to counter Iran’s activities and “aggression” even if a return to the 2015 nuclear deal is not reached, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.
“There’s no imminent agreement because the Iranians continue to inject extraneous issues into the discussions about the JCPOA (Iran’s nuclear deal). And as long as they continue to do that, there is no possibility, no prospect for an agreement,” Blinken said after meeting the French foreign minister to discuss the matter.