Iran breaching nuclear deal by providing Russia with armed drones, says UK

Guardian – Oct 17th 2022

UK joins France in saying apparent drone supply for use in Ukraine leaves Iran in breach of 2015 JCPoA

Britain has joined France in viewing the Iranian supply of armed drones to Russia for devastating use in Ukraine as a breach of Iran’s obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal.

The joint view comes as EU foreign affairs ministers slapped human rights sanctions on the Iranian morality police over their handling of street protests and treatment of women.

The drone strikes continued in Ukraine on Monday with three people killed, according to the mayor of Kyiv.

Despite the French-British belief that Iran is breaching the UN security council resolution that endorsed the nuclear deal by supplying the drones, there is no immediate plan to refer the issue to the UN, but diplomatic sources said the issue was live.

The French foreign ministry spokesperson last week revealed Paris had noted “a great deal of information that reports the use of Iranian drones by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine, in bombardments that were aimed at civilian targets”.

Although a ban on Iranian arms exports expired in 2020, the nuclear deal signed in 2015, known as the joint comprehensive plan of action (JCPoA), retains a ban on any activity related to ballistic missiles until 2023. France and the UK say Iran, in supplying drones, is in breach of obligations under parts of the JCPoA and the missile technology control regime that limits the proliferation of missiles.

The west has the ability to “snapback” on some sanctions if it asserts Iran is breaching the JCPoA.

More practically it is inconceivable that the west will resume negotiations about renewing the nuclear deal so long as there is clear evidence that Iran is supplying arms to help Russia defeat Ukraine. The talks are effectively on hold until after the US midterm elections, even though Iran is continuing to expand its use of more sophisticated centrifuges.

The Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, Naser Kanani, in his weekly press conference again denied Iran was supplying drones to Ukraine, challenging claims by the US, Ukraine and many arms specialists that Iranian-manufactured Shahed-136 drones were in clear use.

He said: “Iran has repeatedly declared that it is not a party to the war between Russia and Ukraine. Iran has not exported any weapons to any of the warring parties. As we have said many times, Iran’s foreign policy is based on opposing war, and regarding the war in Ukraine, we are also against war, and we are trying to end the military approach in this field.”

The Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, has in the recent past spoken of a new military pact with Russia, but not referred to a specific deal on drone exports. Iranian journalists have repeatedly challenged the foreign ministry about its denials.

Oleksiy Kuleba, the head of the Kyiv military administration, said last week that explosions at a military base 75km south of the city, wounding one, had been carried out by these drones.

The highly effective “kamikaze” drones have been used with great effect, and are seen as a cheap alternative to missiles.