Despite the Islamic Republic's denials of weekend reports alleging that it had sent ballistic missiles to Russia, The Telegraph reported Sunday that a lawmaker in Tehran confirmed the transaction had indeed occurred.
The British newspaper cited Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani, who admitted to state media that the sanctioned theocracy exchanges munitions with the Kremlin for agricultural commodities that are in short supply.
Ardestani was quoted as saying, “We circumvent sanctions through our partnership with Russia by importing soybeans, corn, and other goods,” and justified this by adding, “We give missiles to Hezbollah, Hamas, and Hashd al-Shaabi, so why not to Russia?”
The comments came less than 24 hours after the Islamic Republic's mission to the United Nations released a statement refuting claims by the United States that a consignment of 200 Fath-360 missiles were sent from the regime to Russia for use in their military operations against Ukraine.
The delivery of the projectiles comes as Moscow has increased its attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks with the assistance of other offensive materials manufactured in Iran.
The findings follow repeated requests by the government in Kiev to be allowed the use of their NATO-supplied weapons to strike targets deeper inside Russia, especially locations where almost daily aerial bombardments are originated against them.
On Saturday, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns, during a joint appearance with his counterpart in the United Kingdom, expressed concern about the “troubling” military ties between Russia and its allies in Beijing, Pyongyang, and Tehran.
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