Europeans call for UN probe into Iranian drones in Ukraine

“We welcome the investigation by the UN Secretariat Committee responsible for the implementation of Security Council Resolution 2231 and we stand ready to support the work of the Secretariat to conduct its technical and impartial investigation,” the letter to the Security Council consulted by AFP states. and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Resolution 2231 of 2015 builds on the now-deteriorating Iran Civilian Nuclear Deal between Tehran, Russia, China, Germany, the United Kingdom and France.

In their letter, French ambassadors Nicolas de Riviere, German Antje Leendertse and British James Kariuki said, “We are deeply concerned about Iran’s transfer of drones to Russia in violation of Security Council Resolution 2231 (2015). The war of aggression against Ukraine and attacks on civilian infrastructure and Ukrainian cities have involved innocent civilians. Caused death.

Tehran has been accused by the West for days of supplying Russia with kamikaze drones, and the White House confirmed Thursday that Iranian soldiers were in Crimea to help the Russians deal with the machines, which have been launched against energy infrastructure and cities in Ukraine.

The European Union, which announced new sanctions against Iran this week, assured it had “sufficient evidence”.

Believing that “it is now firmly documented that the Russian armed forces are using Iranian drones in Ukraine,” French Ambassador to the UN Nicolas de Riviere called on Iran to “immediately stop all forms of support for the war of aggression that Russia has launched against Ukraine.”.

Moscow and Tehran have firmly denied, at the end of a closed session of the Security Council on Wednesday, any involvement in these weapons, the Shahed-136 and Shahed-131 drones.

“Today Ukraine and its Western backers are trying to popularize false information about the alleged supply of Iranian drones to Russia,” Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia further thundered.

Russian diplomat Nebenzia threatened the secretariat “if it gets involved in this dirty business” of a UN investigation into drones launched against Ukraine, as did his deputy Dmitry Polianskyi at the UN on Wednesday.