“Our assessment is that Iranian military personnel were on the ground in Crimea and assisted Russia in these operations,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
Kirby explained that the Iranians in Crimea were trainers and technical support personnel and that the Russians were directing rallies that severely damaged Ukrainian infrastructure.
“Tehran is now directly involved on the ground, by providing weapons that affect civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine,” he added.
He continued, “The United States will use all means to detect, deter and confront Iran’s supply of these munitions against the Ukrainian people.”
“We will continue to apply all US sanctions on Russian and Iranian arms trade,” Kirby said.
On Monday, the United States threatened to take measures against companies and countries that cooperate with the Iranian drone program, considering Moscow’s alliance with Tehran a major threat to the world.
US State Department spokesman Vidant Patel told reporters, “Any party that has activities with Iran related to drones, ballistic missile development, or the flow of weapons from Iran to Russia should be very careful and take the necessary precautions. The United States will not hesitate to use sanctions.” or take action against the perpetrators.
He added that “Russia’s deepening of its alliance with Iran is something that the whole world should see as a major threat.”
For its part, Iran denied on Monday providing Russia with drones for use in its own operation in Ukraine.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said during a weekly press conference: “The published reports about Iran providing Russia with drones that have political ambitions, and are published by Western sources.”
Kanaani added: “We did not provide weapons to any of the two warring countries.”
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