Iran Denies Allegations of Supplying Ballistic Missiles to Russia

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanani has dismissed reports that Iran allegedly sends ballistic missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine.

“The claim of sending ballistic missiles to Russia is made with the political goals and motives of some Western countries and is completely baseless,” the state-run IRNA news agency quoted the Iranian official as saying on September 8.

He also defended Iran’s stance, stating that its “conventional military cooperation with Russia has a history much older than the start of the Ukrainian war,” and added that Tehran “opposes war and supports a political solution to resolve the differences between Russia and Ukraine.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has never been a part of this military conflict since the start of the Ukraine crisis,” Kanani said, adding that Iran “has always supported a political solution and bilateral talks to end this conflict.”

In a statement on September 7, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry warned that “if the transfer of ballistic missiles by Iran to the Russian Federation is confirmed, it will have devastating consequences for Ukrainian-Iranian bilateral relations.”

“Iran must completely and definitively stop supplying weapons to Russia in order to prove, with actions, not words, the sincerity of its political leadership’s claims of non-involvement in fueling the Russian war machine of death," the statement added.

For two years, Russia has been using Iranian Shahed drones to strike Ukrainian population centers, and any attempt to deepen military cooperation between Moscow and Tehran would pose a serious security threat not only to Ukraine but also to the whole world, the ministry said.

Earlier, Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations denied the transfer, stating that “Iran considers the provision of military assistance to the parties engaged in the conflict – which leads to increased human casualties, destruction of infrastructure, and a distancing from ceasefire negotiations – to be inhumane.”

However, Senior Iranian MP Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani, a member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said on September 7 that Iran sends missiles to Russia in exchange for imports like soy and wheat.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on September 6 cited unnamed US and European officials as saying Iran has sent short-range ballistic missiles to Russia. Reuters also reported in August that Russia may receive “hundreds” of Fath-360 short-range missiles and other ballistic missiles from Iran.

Amidst media reports that Iran is supplying short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, warned that countries helping “terrorist states” with weapons must be punished. 

“In response to the delivery of ballistic missiles to Russia, Ukraine must be given the right to destroy the depots storing these missiles, using Western weapons, in order to prevent terror,” he added.

On August 24, the Security Service of Ukraine claimed that Brig. Gen. Abbas Mousa Sharifi Moasarei, a member of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), had trained the Russian military to use Iranian drones, such as Shahed-136 and Mohajer-6, in the war against Ukraine.

In March, the G7 issued a joint statement warning that the international community’s response would include “new and significant measures against Iran” if the country moves ahead with sending ballistic missiles to Russia to use in its war effort against Ukraine.

Last December, the IRGC deployed ballistic missiles and missile support systems to a training area inside Iran to display to a visiting Russian delegation – signs that Russia intended to purchase the systems from Iran.