EU set to sanction Iran over missile transfers to Russia

Iran's ballistic Fath-360 on display, said to be the missile supplied to Russia
Iran's ballistic Fath-360 on display, said to be the missile supplied to Russia

The European Union will on Monday sanction a number of Iranian individuals and organizations connected to the Islamic Republic's transfer of missiles to Russia, Reuters reported citing a senior EU official.

The sanctions will be the bloc's first punitive measures over the alleged transfers and will come at a time when Iran and Russia have drawn closer.

Their presidents met on the sidelines of an international conference in Turkmenistan on Friday.

"Our assessments of events taking place in the world are often very close," Russia’s president Vladimir Putin told Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

Pezeshkian reciprocated: “Our relations are being strengthened day by day and becoming more robust," according to Iran’s state news agency IRNA.

Iran has been helping Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, providing drones that Kiev says have been used to target urban areas.

Iranian officials including Pezeshkian have denied any delivery of ballistic missiles. But foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told a European Union official that shorter range missiles were sent to Russia, according to the Wall Street Journal’s EU reporter, Laurence Norman.

“Senior EU official says Araghchi acknowledged in NY that Iran had sent missiles to Russia of less than 250km range. Claimed they were not "ballistic" missiles,” Norman posted on X on Friday. He added that EU’s sanction over Iran’s missile supplies to Russia would likely include Iran’s main commercial airline, IranAir.

The EU warned Iran last month that it will face sanctions for its alleged transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia. “We will respond swiftly and in coordination with international partners," EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrel said at the time.

The measures—expected to be introduced on Monday— will not be the end of such measures, according to Norman citing EU officials. “There are also discussions on sectoral sanctions vs Iran that won’t be decided Monday,” he wrote on X.