U.S. accuses Iran of sending ballistic missiles to Russia

LONDON — Iran has sent short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday, threatening sanctions for a move that pulls Tehran more deeply into the Russia-Ukraine conflict as Kyiv seeks U.S. permission to strike more deeply into Russian territory.

Blinken said new sanctions would be announced later Tuesday, including measures against Iran Air.

“We’ve warned Tehran publicly, we’ve warned Tehran privately, that taking this step would be a dangerous escalation,” Blinken said. “Russia has now received shipments of these missiles.”

He added that Russia would likely use the shipments within weeks.

Iranian officials this week denied that they had sent weapons to Russia.

The potent weapons bolster Moscow’s armory at a pivotal moment in its grinding war on Ukraine, as Kyiv pushes into Russia but faces setbacks in its east. With Ukrainians clamoring for expanded U.S. weapons assistance, Blinken said that he would visit Kyiv for consultations with its leadership, a rare visit by a cabinet-level official to the wartime capital.

Russia has been on a global hunt to bolster its stockpiles, reasoning that if it can outlast Kyiv’s backers and grind the country into submission, it will eventually prevail. Iran has supplied Russia with attack drones, but until recently held back from offering more powerful weaponry, in apparent deference to U.S. and European warnings that to do so would trigger a wave of painful sanctions.

The Iranian move further extends the realignment of global actors that was accelerated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, bringing together the U.S. antagonists of Russia, China and Iran in an increasingly unified band that is seeking to push back on U.S. influence around the world. Though none of the countries were friendly to Washington before the war, their mutual mistrust of each other previously kept them from working together effectively.

Blinken did not say when the missiles had been shipped to Russia. Iran has a new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, who has signaled a more moderate approach toward Washington and Europe. The weapons shipment to Moscow runs contrary to that effort, with European countries offering little tolerance for actions that tip the balance toward Russia’s side.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has also pushed back against the accusation.

“Not every time information of this kind corresponds to reality. We are developing dialogue with Iran in the most sensitive areas and will continue to do so,” he told reporters on Monday.

Iran has also been deeply involved in the conflict in the Mideast, supplying weaponry to its proxies, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, and also at times striking directly against Israel. Washington and other nations have been focused on restraining Iran to avoid escalation toward a regional war, an effort that has so far been successful even amid the mounting civilian toll in Gaza.

At a news conference in Kyiv on Tuesday, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that reports Russia had received ballistic missiles from Iran “is very much of our immediate concern.”

Ukraine is bracing itself for a painful winter, with Russian attacks eroding its energy infrastructure and putting its population at risk for long stretches without power or heat as the dark and cold settle over the country.

Shmyhal warned last week that Ukraine has information Russia is planning to launch new attacks on energy targets but said Tuesday that it is premature to make predictions about just how often residents of major cities will be without power this winter.

Ukrainian officials are busy reinforcing critical energy infrastructure with sandbags and concrete to protect from Russian attacks, he said, and will rely on air defense systems, including those promised from foreign partners.

Blackouts are difficult for regular civilians, he said, but when they affect the economy and defense sectors, they become “a threat to our national security, so we have to be very responsible.”

As his country faces waves of Russian bombardment, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has become more vocal about his demand to be able to use long-range U.S. missile systems known as ATACMS against targets deep in Russian territory. President Joe Biden has so far barred their use inside Russia, worried that could be interpreted as an escalatory move against Russia and draw Washington into a more direct confrontation with Russia.

Zelensky on Friday made his case in person at a gathering of his military backers in Germany, including to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, but the top U.S. defense official remains unconvinced. The Department of Defense continues to recommend against allowing ATACMS to be used inside Russian territory, a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to speak frankly about internal administration discussions.

Ukraine has already proved to its partners that it can target military objects inside Russia successfully and responsibly, Shmyhal said. Expanding the country’s ability to do so “means more security for our people, our civilians, our children, Ukraine.”

“If we can destroy the military targets and weapon systems in the territory of the enemy then it means more security for our people, our civilians, our children, Ukraine,” he said.

Blinken has generally been more open to Ukrainian requests than others in the Biden administration, and Wednesday’s discussions in Kyiv will be a chance to hear directly from Zelensky and his newly reshuffled cabinet.

Blinken’s longtime counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, stepped down last week and was replaced by his deputy, Andrii Sybiha, the former Ukrainian ambassador to Turkey who has also worked in the presidential office.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy will accompany Blinken to Kyiv on Wednesday, in his first since coming to office in July.

Shortly afterward, Zelensky is expected to travel to the United States, where he will attend the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting of heads of state. He has also said he hopes to present a “victory plan” to Biden, one element of which involves his military’s recent surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.

O’Grady reported from Kyiv.