The governments of the UK, France, and Germany announced a series of new sanctions on the Iranian regime, following missile shipments from Tehran to Russia.
In a joint statement from the three countries, it was reported that because Iran sent missile shipments to help the Russian military in the war against Ukraine, the European countries decided to impose new sanctions on Iran.
Among other things, this includes restricting flights of the airline Iran Air to European countries, as well as personal sanctions on Iranian officials involved in approving and shipping the missiles to Russia.
"This is a further escalation of Iran’s military support to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and will see Iranian missiles reaching European soil, increasing the suffering of the Ukrainian people. This act is an escalation by both Iran and Russia, and is a direct threat to European security," the three countries stated.
"The E3 has privately and publicly been clear that we would take new and significant measures against Iran if the transfers took place. We now have confirmation that Iran has made these transfers. We will be taking immediate steps to cancel bilateral air services agreements with Iran. In addition, we will pursue the designations of significant entities and individuals involved with Iran’s ballistic missile programme and the transfer of ballistic missiles and other weapons to Russia. We will also work towards imposing sanctions on Iran Air."
"The E3 are closely coordinating our strong response to these transfers with our European and international partners. We call on Iran to immediately cease all support to Russia’s war against Ukraine and halt the development and transfers of its ballistic missiles."
UK Foreign Secretary David Lamy also added that "Iran supplying Russia with ballistic missiles to fuel its illegal invasion of Ukraine is a significant and dangerous escalation. We have been clear in that any transfer of ballistic missiles by Iran would face a significant response. Today, alongside our international partners, we are calling out this behaviour and its attempts to undermine global security. Iran must stop supporting Putin’s unprovoked, premeditated and barbaric attack against a sovereign democratic state. The UK will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes."
The US welcomed the new sanctions. National Security Council spokesman, John Kirby, welcomed the new sanctions and said that the missiles were used to target civilian sites in Ukraine after being delivered from Tehran. Kirby also claimed that Russian military personnel received training from Iranian forces on how to effectively use the missiles.