The United States will continue to vigorously enforce sanctions on the Russian and Iranian arms trade, the White House said, adding that it will stand with the Ukrainian people as long as needed. That will make it more difficult for Iran to sell those weapons to Russia, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at her daily press conference on Monday.
There is extensive evidence that Russia is using Iranian drones to target military and civilian targets in Ukraine, she added. “We will continue to vigorously enforce US sanctions on both the Russian and Iranian arms trade – that is what we will do from here to make it more difficult for Iran to sell these weapons to Russia. And we will stand with our partners across the region against this Iranian threat,” Jean-Pierre said.
In response to questions, she said national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned in July that Iran planned to sell drones to Russia for use against Ukraine. “We also publicly revealed that Russia received drones from Iran, that it was part of a Russian plan to import hundreds of Iranian UAVs of various types, and that Russian operators continue to receive training in Iran on how to use these very systems,” she said. he said.
“So there is extensive evidence of their use by Russia against both military and civilian targets there (Ukraine),” she added. Jean-Pierre said the US is in daily contact with the Ukrainians across the administration, from the national security adviser to the Defense Department and the State Department. On Friday, the U.S. announced an additional $725 million security package for Ukraine to meet critical needs so it can continue to defend itself.
“We will continue to stand by the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes. We will continue to work with our allies and partners. We will continue to impose costs on Russia, hold it accountable for its war crimes, as we talked about — you heard directly from the president in the war crimes article — and its atrocities, and we will provide security, economic, and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine,” he said Jean-Pierre In a separate press conference, State Department Deputy Spokesman Vedant Patel said that Russia’s deepening alliance with Iran is something that should be seen as a deep threat and something that every country should pay close attention to.
“This is something that we continue to closely monitor on our part and are in close contact with our allies and partners, including those at the United Nations, to address Iran’s dangerous proliferation of arms to Russia,” he said. Patel went on to say, “Anyone doing business with Iran who may have any connection to the development of UAVs or ballistic missiles or the flow of arms from Iran to Russia should be very careful and do their due diligence. “The US will not hesitate to use sanctions or take action against perpetrators. I don’t have specific actions to read or review, but it’s something we continue to pay close attention to,” he said.
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