EU to discuss new Iran sanctions over drone deliveries to Russia: Report

EU foreign ministers are set to discuss future sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran over their alleged drone deliveries to Russia.

This, according to two diplomats that spoke with Reuters on Friday, citing preparatory meetings ahead of a EU ministerial meeting in Luxembourg on 17 October.

The sources claim an “analysis of the drone activity has been carried out,” and that a political agreement that would pave the way for sanctions at a later stage is now on the agenda.

The European bloc was already planning to impose travel bans and asset freezes on over a dozen Iranians involved in the crackdown of violent street protests that followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who fell into a coma in the hours after being detained by Iran’s Moral Security Police last month.

Earlier in the week, Iran reportedly sent a letter to EU diplomats, urging them to abandon sanctions against Tehran, warning them that the survival of Iran-EU relations hangs in the balance.

“If Europe misses taking the nuances of the current situation into consideration, the ramification will be grave and the bilateral relations may not survive it,” a letter sent to a group of EU ambassadors reads, according to POLITICO.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Wednesday allegedly received a similar letter from Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

In mid-September, Iranian drones were spotted for the first time in Ukraine, as an Ukrainian officer known as ‘Максим’ — who serves in an engineering and bomb disposal unit — revealed photos of the wreckage of an Iranian suicide drone that was used in the Kupyansk region.

Other sightings of Iranian drones have been reported over the past several weeks, despite Tehran’s official denial of providing any military support to Russia.

During a phone conversation with Portuguese Foreign Minister Joao Gomes Cravinho on Friday night, Amir-Abdollahian reiterated that Iran “has not provided any warring side with weapons for the use in the war.”

The Iranian official went on to say that “arming the warring sides will prolong the Ukraine war,” before stressing that “war is not the proper solution anywhere in the world, be it in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria or Yemen.”