Russia-Iran connections alarm the West, Ukraine receives additional U.S. funding

On Friday, the United States pledged to sever Russian ties with Iran and announced new military assistance for Ukraine in exchange. According to a British envoy, this involved Moscow asking for hundreds of ballistic missiles while providing previously unheard-of military support in return.
Officials in Ukraine warned on Friday of a winter-long power shortage following repeated Russian strikes on its energy infrastructure, but Tehran and Moscow have refuted Western charges that Russia is employing Iranian drones to attack targets there.
In October, Reuters was informed by two senior Iranian officials and two Iranian diplomats that Iran had pledged to give Russia additional drones and surface-to-surface missiles.
According to John Kirby, the White House’s national security spokesman, Washington is particularly concerned about the “deepening and blossoming defense alliance” between Iran and Russia and will take steps to sabotage it, including with regard to drones.
According to him, Washington was sending Ukraine a $275 million aid package to bolster air defenses and combat drones.
According to Barbara Woodward, Britain’s ambassador to the United Nations, Iran contributed hundreds of the drones that Russia used in the Ukraine.
She informed reporters that “Russia is currently trying to acquire more weaponry, including hundreds of ballistic missiles.” Russia is providing Iran with an unparalleled degree of military and technical help in exchange.
Requests for comment from the Russian and Iranian missions to the UN were not immediately fulfilled.
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, had stated that Moscow would likely achieve a settlement with Ukraine at some point, but that a final agreement would be considerably more difficult to accomplish due to Russia’s nearly complete loss of trust in the West.
Since its invasion of Ukraine in February, Russia has cracked down on dissent. On Friday, a Moscow court sentenced opposition politician Ilya Yashin to eight and a half years in prison on charges of disseminating “false information” about the army.
Credit: Reuters