Iranian Regime’s Delivery of Ballistic Missiles to Russia

(New York, NY) – United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) Chairman Governor Jeb Bush and CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace released the following statement in response to Secretary of State Blinken’s confirmation of the Iranian regime’s delivery of Fath-360 close-range ballistic missiles (CBRM) to Russia, in support of President Putin’s invasion, occupation, and war of aggression against Ukraine: 

In shipping missiles to Putin, the regime in Iran has once again blazed past an explicitly avowed Western redline—a stark reminder of the erosion of deterrence across the board.  The West’s long-term collective failure to impose meaningful consequences on Iran’s malign behavior has produced the status quo, whereby Ayatollah Khamenei correctly judges he can escalate without facing any repercussions of consequence.

The IRGC has supplied these lethal weapons to Russia in the full understanding that they will be used to kill innocent Ukrainians.  Having already crossed an earlier redline in delivering thousands of lethal drones to Putin over the past two years, Tehran will naturally seek Russian military hardware in the form of fighter jets and air defense systems in return.

Despite glib assurances regarding Iran’s “neutrality” on the Russia-Ukraine War from the government of new so-called “reformist” President Pezeshkian, we should be clear: the Iranian regime is an ally of Russia and an adversary of Europe. The West should wake up to this reality with something more than hollow threats and under-enforced sanctions.

While we therefore welcome this week’s coordinated U.S. and European sanctions targeting IRGC-affiliated Iran Air—a move UANI has previously called for—isolated sanctions will not alter the Iranian regime’s overriding calculus. Only meaningful costs can achieve that. 

Ultimately, the United States and its European allies must make it absolutely clear to Khamenei that if Iranian ballistic missiles are used against the U.S. or its allies and partners then the IRGC and its assets will suffer consequences—inside Iran.

Furthermore, the UK and EU must immediately proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organization. The proscription of the IRGC would impose maximum restrictions on the Guards’ ability to operate on European soil, not least its efforts to nurture homegrown Islamist terrorism in Europe. The failure to proscribe the IRGC is putting European national security and lives at risk.