Araghchi made the comment on Sunday on his X account in which he referred to his meetings in New York with EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell and Enrique Mora, deputy secretary general of the European External Action Service. The meetings took place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in September.
“In a meeting with @JosepBorrellF and @enriquemora in NY, I said the following: 1- Iran-Russia military cooperation is not new; has a history, long before the Ukrainian crisis began. 2- Some Europeans have provided Israeli regime with all kinds of sophisticated weapons, and anxiously engaged in military operation against Iran”, Araghchi said in his post.
“3-US Maximum Pressure policy is still in place, and business community in Europe follows OFAC instructions in full”, he said, referring to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which is affiliated to the US Treasury Department and enforces economic and trade sanctions on other countries.
“I clearly said, and reiterate once again: we’ve NOT provided ballistic missiles to Russia. If Europe needs a case to appease Israel’s blackmail, better find another story”, the top Iranian diplomat added.
Araghchi’s comments come as the EU reportedly plans to impose sanctions on a number of Iranian people and organizations the bloc accuses of having links to the alleged transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia.
Reuters, citing European diplomats on Friday, reported that EU foreign ministers plan to announce the sanctions during their meeting in Brussels on Monday.
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