An Iranian-made drone on display in Tehran. AFP File
New Delhi: Days after Washington accused Tehran of delivering combat UAVs to Russia amid its conflict with Ukraine, the White House on Wednesday said that it was working to prevent Iran from using Western parts to make military drones.
Adrienne Watson, the spokesperson for the US National Security Council, said the US was looking for ways to target Iranian UAV production by imposing sanctions and export controls.
“We are looking at ways to target Iranian UAV production through sanctions, export controls, and talking to private companies whose parts have been used in the production,” the New York Times quoted Watson as saying.
Watson added that the White House was “assessing further steps we can take in terms of export controls to restrict Iran’s access to technologies used in drones.”
In attacks on Ukraine’s Kiev and other towns, Russia is allegedly utilising Iranian Shahed-136 kamikaze drones, according to Ukraine. At the time, Dmitry Peskov, spokesperson for the Kremlin, refuted the claims stating that Moscow was only employing Russian equipment in the military action in Ukraine.
According to a CNN report, Washington has set up a taskforce to investigate the allegations that Western components were found in drones deployed by Russia in Ukraine.
Earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said that Kiev’s accusations of helping Russia with weapons were “unfounded”.
“The Islamic Republic does not supply military hardware to either side of the conflict,” he added.
Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, had stated early November that Tehran had shipped “a small number of drones” to Russia months before Moscow launched the military operation in late February.
In September and November, the US Treasury Department blacklisted several Iranian companies accused of involvement in the alleged sale of drones to Russia.
With inputs from agencies
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