Iran responds to Zelensky’s accusations
Iran has not exported any military equipment for use in the conflict in Ukraine, and will not tolerate such false accusations indefinitely, the foreign ministry in Tehran stressed on Thursday, in response to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s speech to the US Congress.
“Once again we emphasize that the Islamic Republic of Iran has not exported any military equipment to any party for use in the Ukraine war,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a statement.
Noting that Iran has always respected the territorial integrity of other countries, including Ukraine, Kanaani added, “Mr. Zelensky should realize that Iran’s strategic patience will not be unlimited towards unfounded accusations.”
Addressing US lawmakers on Wednesday evening, Zelensky accused Tehran of being Moscow’s partner in “genocidal policy.”
“Iranian deadly drones sent to Russia in the hundreds became a threat to our critical infrastructure. That is how one terrorist has found the other,” he said.
Ukraine and the US have accused Iran of providing drones to Russia, arguing that Moscow’s Geran-2 drones are actually the Iranian-made Shahed-136 UAVs. Tehran noted this week that Kiev has failed to present any evidence to back that up. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stressed that all weapons used by Russian troops in Ukraine come from domestic stockpiles.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian explained in November that Tehran had supplied a “small number of drones” to Moscow “months before” the current conflict in Ukraine. He has also criticized Washington for funneling billions of dollars worth of weapons and ammunition to Kiev, prolonging the conflict.
In his statement on Thursday, Kanaani advised Zelensky to “better learn lessons from the fate of certain leaders of countries that relied upon support from the US.”
The Ukrainian president was in Washington to lobby for more weapons to keep his war effort going. US President Joe Biden used the visit to announce more than $2.2 billion in additional aid.
