Russia will not maintain restrictions on Iran's missile programme

On Tuesday, 17 October, Russia stated that it would no longer comply with UN Security Council restrictions on providing Iran with missile technology starting Wednesday, when they formally expire – despite the stance of the other parties to the Iran nuclear deal.

Source: a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, cited by European Pravda

Details: The ministry recalled that the requirements of UN Security Council Resolution 2231 regarding the Iranian missile programme, as well as the "freezing of assets of some [Iranian] individuals and legal entities", will expire on 18 October.

The rest of the statement is devoted to accusations against the US and European countries who are acting as guarantors of the nuclear deal, claiming that they are on a "slippery slope of lawlessness being promoted by Washington".

UN Security Council Resolution 2231, adopted in 2015, approved the Iran nuclear deal and provided for the gradual lifting of sanctions against Tehran in exchange for its compliance with restrictions on the use of the atom.

But Iran is known to have directly contravened the agreement after the United States withdrew from it in 2018. Although European states initiated the dispute resolution mechanism provided for by the agreement in January 2020 in order to resolve the violations by Iran, it has refused to participate in dialogue for the last three and a half years.

Since then, Tehran has accumulated enriched uranium more than 18 times over the limit and has built an extensive network of nuclear facilities for its own use, leading the UK, France and Germany to state in September that they would extend restrictions on Iran's missile programme unilaterally.

Russia has drawn closer to Iran since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Among other things, Tehran has supplied the Russian regime with thousands of kamikaze drones that kill Ukrainian civilians, and has also provided the technology to manufacture them.

In addition, since last year there have been persistent reports, as yet unconfirmed, that Iran may send ballistic missiles to Russia.

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