RSS
Iran Continues to Deny Missile Delivery to Russia as Ukraine Warns It Could Cut Ties With Tehran
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian meets with Russian Security Council’s Secretary Sergei Shoigu in Tehran, Iran, Aug. 5, 2024. Photo: Iran’s Presidency/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iran’s foreign minister on Wednesday said that his country had not delivered any ballistic missiles to Russia after the US and some European countries imposed sanctions on Tehran over the reported weapons delivery.
“Once again, US and E3 [which comprises Britain, Germany, and France] act on faulty intelligence and flawed logic,” Abbas Araghchi posted on X/Twitter. “Iran has NOT delivered ballistic missiles to Russia. Period — Sanction addicts should ask themselves: how is Iran able to make & supposedly sell sophisticated arms? Sanctions r NOT a solution, but part of problem [sic].”
CNN and the Wall Street Journal reported last week that Iran had transferred ballistic missiles to Russia for Moscow to use in its ongoing war against Ukraine. Then on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Russia has received ballistic missiles from Iran and will likely use them in Ukraine within weeks.
The US, Germany, Britain, and France on Tuesday imposed new sanctions on Iran, including against its national airline Iran Air.
Earlier this week, the European Union (EU) described as “credible” information provided by allies indicating Iran has supplied short-range ballistic missiles to Russia to help Moscow wage war in Ukraine.
Amid the backlash, Kyiv said on Tuesday that it could cut diplomatic ties with Tehran if Russia used ballistic missiles supplied by Iran in attacks against Ukraine.
“I will not say now exactly what is meant by devastating consequences, so as not to weaken our diplomatic position. But I can say that all options, including the one you mentioned, are on the table,” foreign ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhyi said when asked if Ukraine could cut bilateral ties with Iran.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowed to coordinate a global response to any country helping Russia without mentioning Iran.
“I want to say to everyone in the world who still wants somehow to help [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” Zelenskiy said. “We will do everything not just to defend our state and people, but to truly consolidate the world for strong responses to the incitement of war or any attempts to prolong it.”
However, Iran has adamantly denied the allegations of supplying Russia with missiles.
“We strongly reject allegations about Iran’s role in sending weapons to one side of the war and we assess these allegations as politically motivated by some parties,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said at a press conference.
Separately, a senior commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an internationally designated terrorist organization, refuted the claims.
“No missile was sent to Russia and this claim is a kind of psychological warfare,” Fazlollah Nozari was quoted by the Iranian Labour News Agency as saying. “Iran does not support any of the parties to the Ukraine-Russia conflict.”
Russia on Wednesday dismissed reports that Iran had shipped missiles to Russia, characterizing such claims as baseless.
Earlier this week, however, Russian officials did not explicitly deny the allegations and expressed solidarity with their Iranian counterparts.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday said of the reports that “this kind of information is not true every time.” But then he quickly touted Russia’s relationship with Iran and said the partnership would continue to grow.
“Iran is our important partner,” he told reporters. “We are developing our trade and economic relations. We are developing our cooperation and dialogue in all possible areas, including the most sensitive ones, and will continue to do so in the interests of the peoples of our two countries.”
CIA Director William Burns warned of the growing and “troubling” defense relationship between Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea while speaking at a public event in London this past weekend. He said their increased coordination and cooperation threatened not only Ukraine but also Western allies in the Middle East.
Western and Ukrainian officials have dismissed denials of Iranian weapons transfers in the past. Russia has been receiving Iranian-made Shahed drones since 2022 and using them against Ukraine, according to analysts and government officials.
Ukraine downgraded ties with Iran in 2022 over Iran’s supplying of the drones, which Russian troops have used to attack Ukrainian forces.
Reuters and other media outlets also reported earlier this year that Iran sent ballistic missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine, indicating the latest reported missile transfer wasn’t the first.
Warming ties between Moscow and Tehran have extended beyond military matters. For the past two years, Iran and Russia have been working on a major comprehensive bilateral agreement to strengthen cooperation in a wide array of areas. Officials from both countries have said in recent months that the deal will be signed in the near future without elaborating.
Reuters contributed to this report.
The post Iran Continues to Deny Missile Delivery to Russia as Ukraine Warns It Could Cut Ties With Tehran first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
US House Members Ask Marco Rubio to Bar Turkey From Rejoining F-35 Program
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, April 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard
A bipartisan coalition of more than 40 US lawmakers is pressing Secretary of State Marco Rubio to prevent Turkey from rejoining the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, citing ongoing national security concerns and violations of US law.
Members of Congress on Thursday warned that lifting existing sanctions or readmitting Turkey to the US F-35 fifth-generation fighter program would “jeopardize the integrity of F-35 systems” and risk exposing sensitive US military technology to Russia. The letter pointed to Ankara’s 2017 purchase of the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system, despite repeated US warnings, as the central reason Turkey was expelled from the multibillion-dollar fighter jet program in 2019.
“The S-400 poses a direct threat to US aircraft, including the F-16 and F-35,” the lawmakers wrote. “If operated alongside these platforms, it risks exposing sensitive military technology to Russian intelligence.”
The group of signatories, spanning both parties, stressed that Turkey still possesses the Russian weapons systems and has shown “no willingness to comply with US law.” They urged Rubio and the Trump administration to uphold the Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) and maintain Ankara’s exclusion from the F-35 program until the S-400s are fully removed.
The letter comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed during a NATO summit in June that Ankara and Washington have begun discussing Turkey’s readmission into the program.
Lawmakers argued that reversing course now would undermine both US credibility and allied confidence in American defense commitments. They also warned it could disrupt development of the next-generation fighter jet announced by the administration earlier this year.
“This is not a partisan issue,” the letter emphasized. “We must continue to hold allies and adversaries alike accountable when their actions threaten US interests.”
RSS
US Lawmakers Urge Treasury to Investigate Whether Irish Bill Targeting Israel Violates Anti-Boycott Law
A pro-Hamas demonstration in Ireland led by nationalist party Sinn Fein. Photo: Reuters/Clodagh Kilcoyne
A group of US lawmakers is calling on the Treasury Department to investigate and potentially penalize Ireland over proposed legislation targeting Israeli goods, warning that the move could trigger sanctions under longstanding US anti-boycott laws.
In a letter sent on Thursday to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, 16 Republican members of Congress expressed “serious concerns” about Ireland’s recent legislative push to ban trade with territories under Israeli administration, including the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.
The letter, spearheaded by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), called for the US to “send a clear signal” that any attempts to economically isolate Israel will “carry consequences.”
The Irish measure, introduced by Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Simon Harris, seeks to prohibit the import of goods and services originating from what the legislation refers to as “occupied Palestinian territories,” including Israeli communities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Supporters say the bill aligns with international law and human rights principles, while opponents, including the signatories of the letter, characterize it as a direct extension of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel as a step toward the destruction of the world’s lone Jewish state.
Some US lawmakers have also described the Irish bill as an example of “antisemitic hate” that could risk hurting relations between Dublin and Washington.
“Such policies not only promote economic discrimination but also create legal uncertainty for US companies operating in Ireland,” the lawmakers wrote in this week’s letter, urging Bessent to determine whether Ireland’s actions qualify as participation in an “unsanctioned international boycott” under Section 999 of the Internal Revenue Code, also known as the Ribicoff Amendment.
Under that statute, the Treasury Department is required to maintain a list of countries that pressure companies to comply with international boycotts not sanctioned by the US. Inclusion on the list carries tax-reporting burdens and possible penalties for American firms and individuals doing business in those nations.
“If the criteria are met, Ireland should be added to the boycott list,” the letter said, arguing that such a step would help protect US companies from legal exposure and reaffirm American opposition to economic efforts aimed at isolating Israel.
Legal experts have argued that if the Irish bill becomes law, it could chase American capital out of the country while also hurting companies that do business with Ireland. Under US law, it is illegal for American companies to participate in boycotts of Israel backed by foreign governments. Several US states have also gone beyond federal restrictions to pass separate measures that bar companies from receiving state contracts if they boycott Israel.
Ireland has been one of the fiercest critics of Israel on the international stage since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza, leading the Jewish state to shutter its embassy in Dublin.
Last year, Ireland officially recognized a Palestinian state, a decision that Israel described as a “reward for terrorism.”
RSS
US Families File Lawsuit Accusing UNRWA of Supporting Hamas, Hezbollah
A truck, marked with United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) logo, crosses into Egypt from Gaza, at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, during a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah, Egypt, Nov. 27, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
American families of victims of Hamas and Hezbollah attacks have filed a lawsuit against the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, accusing the organization of violating US antiterrorism laws by providing material support to the Islamist terror groups behind the deadly assaults.
Last week, more than 200 families filed a lawsuit in a Washington, DC district court accusing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) of violating US antiterrorism laws by providing funding and support to Hamas and Hezbollah, both designated as foreign terrorist organizations.
The lawsuit alleges that UNRWA employs staff with direct ties to the Iran-backed terror group, including individuals allegedly involved in carrying out attacks against the Jewish state.
However, UNRWA has firmly denied the allegations, labeling them as “baseless” and condemning the lawsuit as “meritless, absurd, dangerous, and morally reprehensible.”
According to the organization, the lawsuit is part of a wider campaign of “misinformation and lawfare” targeting its work in the Gaza Strip, where it says Palestinians are enduring “mass, deliberate and forced starvation.”
The UN agency reports that more than 150,000 donors across the United States have supported its programs providing food, medical aid, education, and trauma assistance in the war-torn enclave amid the ongoing conflict.
In a press release, UNRWA USA affirmed that it will continue its humanitarian efforts despite facing legal challenges aimed at undermining its work.
“Starvation does not pause for politics. Neither will we,” the statement read.
Last year, Israeli security documents revealed that of UNRWA’s 13,000 employees in Gaza, 440 were actively involved in Hamas’s military operations, with 2,000 registered as Hamas operatives.
According to these documents, at least nine UNRWA employees took part directly in the terror group’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.
Israeli officials also uncovered a large Hamas data center beneath UNRWA headquarters, with cables running through the facility above, and found that Hamas also stored weapons in other UNRWA sites.
The UN agency has also aligned with Hamas in efforts against the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israeli and US-backed program that delivers aid directly to Palestinians, blocking Hamas from diverting supplies for terror activities and selling them at inflated prices.
These Israeli intelligence documents also revealed that a senior Hamas leader, killed in an Israeli strike in September 2024, had served as the head of the UNRWA teachers’ union in Lebanon, where Lebanon is based,
UNRWA’s education programs have been found by IMPACT-se, an international organization that monitors global education, to contribute to the radicalization of younger generations of Palestinians.