To promote peace in Ukraine, Russia’s military cooperation with Iran, DPRK and China must be stopped - Blinken
The United States believes that the conditions for promoting peace in Ukraine include, in particular, the cessation of Russia's military cooperation with Iran, North Korea and China.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said this during a speech at a meeting of the UN Security Council, Censor.NET reports.
"There are two immediate and interrelated steps we must take. First, we have to respond to Russia's growing cooperation with North Korea and Iran," he emphasized.
Blinken reminded that Iran is supplying drones to Russia and has built a drone manufacturing plant in Russia, and just a few weeks ago "handed over hundreds of short-range ballistic missiles to Russia."
Meanwhile, the DPRK has been delivering trains of weapons and ammunition to Russia, including rocket launchers and millions of artillery shells.
Blinken emphasized that the actions of Iran, North Korea and Russia have violated numerous Security Council resolutions, which Russia voted for. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Moscow bears a special responsibility for their implementation.
The US Secretary of State noted that this is a "two-way street," so both the DPRK and Iran receive assistance from Russia to circumvent sanctions and further destabilize the situation in their regions.
"North Korea and Iran are not the only ones helping Russia. China, another permanent member of this Council, is a leading supplier of machine tools, microelectronics and other goods that Russia uses to rebuild, resupply, build up its military machine and support its brutal aggression," Blinken summarized.
As a reminder, earlier Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian said that Tehran had allegedly never approved of Russia's aggression against Ukraine.
Iran's supply of missiles to Russia
The Wall Street Journal, citing sources among American and European officials, reported that Iran had transferred its short-range ballistic missiles to Russia.
The White House said that Iran's transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia would mean a sharp escalation of the war in Ukraine. On 10 September, the United States imposed sanctions on Iranian airline Iran Air and Russian ships.
In turn, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expressed deep concern over media reports that Iran had already transferred its ballistic missiles to Russia.
On 11 September, Sky News published satellite images of a vessel that had transported about 220 short-range Fateh-360 ballistic missiles from Iran to Russia across the Caspian Sea.
