US FM threatened Iran with sanctions for supporting Russia

"We’re also working together to impose sanctions on those supporting President Putin’s war. That includes Iran, whose combat drones are killing Ukrainian civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure, and whose personnel in Crimea are assisting Russia in carrying out these brutal attacks," claimed Blinken on Friday in a press after the meeting of foreign ministers of the G7.

Blinken's claims came as Iran’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations Amir Saeed Iravani in a Security Council meeting on Wednesday strongly rejected delivering drones to Russia as totally baseless, saying Tehran has maintained “a position of active neutrality” since the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict.

“Iran has never produced or supplied, nor does it intend to produce or supply items, materials, equipment, goods, and technology that could contribute to the development of nuclear weapons delivery systems,” he said.

US Special Envoy for Iran Affairs Robert Malley also in a tweet on Friday repeated claims about Iran in response to a tweet by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in which he said, "During my today’s address at the meeting of G7 Foreign Ministers I demonstrated them a part of an Iranian-made drone which has recently hit Kyiv. Iran must cease supplying Russia with weapons used to kill Ukrainians or face an even stiffer global pressure and consequences."

"Iran denies it, but the evidence is in plain sight: the UAVs they sold to Russia are being used against Ukrainian civilians. Iran’s leadership may have thought they could get away with helping Russia’s brutal aggression in secret. They could not," Malley claimed.

The anti-Iran claims first emerged in July, with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan alleging that Washington had received “information” indicating that the Islamic Republic was preparing to provide Russia with “up to several hundred drones, including weapons-capable UAVs on an expedited timeline” for use in the war.

Both Iran and Russia have repeatedly rejected claims that Tehran has provided Moscow with drones to be used in the war in Ukraine.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a phone talk with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba on Friday once again rejected Western countries’ allegations of sending drones to Russia for use against Ukraine, saying that Ukraine should be careful not to be influenced by some extreme European politicians.

He said that the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic is completely clear and is based on a single standard which is opposition to the war, adding that Tehran is ready to hold technical meetings with the presence of military experts between the two countries without the need for any intermediaries.