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In response to
"Russian Superyachts Find Safe Haven in Turkey, Raising Concerns in Washington"
by
crash davis
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Iran slams calls for investigation into drone deals with Russia.
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Tehran denounced on Saturday a call from European countries for the United Nations Security Council to investigate accusations that it provided Russia with drones — a violation of its nuclear deal — to strike battlefields and civilian targets in Ukraine.
Calling claims that Russia has used Iranian-made drones in attacking Ukraine “baseless and unsubstantiated,” Tehran condemned the new round of sanctions imposed by Britain and the European Union last week that targeted the company that manufactures Shahed-136 drones, as well as three Iranian generals.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran regards the current provocative approaches by the European Union and Britain as part of a targeted political scenario, which is in contrast to their absurd and hypocritical claims of helping establish lasting peace and stability in the world,” a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, Nasser Kanaani, said on its website.
Mr. Kanaani spoke a day after France, Germany and Britain asked the U.N. to investigate whether Iran had violated a Security Council resolution endorsing the 2015 accord, brokered among six world powers led by the United States, that granted relief on oil and financial sanctions in exchange for curbs on Tehran’s nuclear program.
Iranian drones have been used on civilian targets and have killed dozens of people, including during strikes in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. They have also been used as part of Russia’s intensified efforts to take down Ukraine’s electrical grid in strikes on power plants around the country.
Iran has denied sending drones to Russia or deploying trainers to Ukraine, and Moscow has denied using Iranian drones to attack civilians.
American officials say that Iran not only has provided Russia with dozens of self-destructing drones, but has also sent Iranian trainers to Crimea to help Russian pilots learn to use them after early failures.
John F. Kirby, a National Security Council official, said this week that Tehran was directly engaged in the drone campaign that had killed civilians and destroyed power facilities in Ukraine.
“There is extensive proof of their use by Russia against both military and civilian targets there,” Mr. Kirby said. “Yet both Iran and Russia continue to lie about it.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine told CTV and CBC in an interview that he did not believe the denials from the Iranian leadership.
— Ben Shpigel
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