Tehran, Iran – Iran’s government says it is ready to hold talks with Ukrainian officials to counter allegations it is arming Russia and plans to step up military cooperation with it as the war in Ukraine nears the end of its eighth month. In a statement issued late Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani reiterated Tehran’s denials about sending drones to Russia for use in the conflict, and for the first time expressed readiness for “dialogue and negotiation with Ukraine to clear these allegations.” It came after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Monday he had proposed to President Volodymyr Zelenksyy to formally cut diplomatic ties with Iran following Russia’s recent attacks, which have killed several people and damaged infrastructure. Kouleba said the Ukrainian government had no doubt that Iran’s Shahed-136 “kamikaze” drones were used in Monday’s attacks and believed Tehran would likely continue to supply weapons to Moscow. Firefighters work to put out a fire in a residential building destroyed by a Russian drone strike, which local authorities say is an Iranian-made Shahed-136, on October 17, 2022 [Gleb Garanich/Reuters] Separately, The New York Times on Tuesday reported unnamed US officials that Iran, after selling drones to Russia, sent trainers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula to help Russian forces they handle them. It followed reports by other Western media that Tehran was preparing to send more drones, in addition to transporting short- and medium-range Fateh and Zolfaghar surface-to-surface missiles. In a speech on Wednesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appeared to refer to the alleged drone sales to Russia. “When photos of our advanced missile and drone equipment were released a few years ago, [our enemies] he said they’ve been photoshopped. Now they are saying that Iranian drones are very dangerous and they are asking why you are selling them,” he said, without directly mentioning the war in Ukraine. Ukraine accuses Russia of using the Shahed-136, although it has been renamed Geran-2 with its own tail numbers. The relatively cheap and fairly accurate drone is able to fly long distances before hitting its targets with embedded explosives. Ukraine, which downgraded diplomatic relations with Tehran last month, has been vocal about the alleged use of Iranian drones, with Zelenskyy and his top officials directly blaming them several times for attacks in the capital Kyiv and elsewhere. “Drawn killer,” Ukraine’s defense ministry tweeted last week showing a picture of a young pilot who had allegedly shot down several of the drones. The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russian technology with Russian names was “being used” in Ukraine and referred questions to the defense ministry. On Monday, Ukraine called on the European Union to impose sanctions on Iran over alleged arms sales, with Kouleba saying he was willing to provide evidence. The bloc’s foreign ministers did not take action during a meeting in Luxembourg, but foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the EU was reviewing the evidence it had and would impose new sanctions if it could independently verify arms sales to Russia for the war. The bloc, however, imposed sanctions on a host of Iranian officials and entities for what it called “the brutal crackdown on protests” that erupted across Iran a month ago following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the country’s custody. the so-called “morality police”. While repeatedly denying any arms sales to Moscow for use in Ukraine, Iranian officials have said the country has active “defense cooperation” with Russia, without elaborating. Iran and Russia are growing closer, with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian saying on Tuesday that a long-term cooperation deal that has been in the works since last year will be finalized by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, in March 2023.
