The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said that Russia is providing intelligence support to Iran in the Middle East war ”to kill Americans.”
“We see that Russia is helping Iran with intelligence to target Americans, to kill Americans, and Russia is also supporting Iran now with the drones so that they can attack neighboring countries and also US military bases,” she told reporters as she attended Thursday a meeting of the G7 Foreign Ministers near Paris.
“These wars are very much interlinked. If America wants the war in the Middle East to stop, Iran to stop attacking them, they should also put the pressure on Russia so that they are not able to help them in this,” she said;
‘’I think the two main issues on the table are the two great wars: one in Ukraine and the other one in the Middle East. We are discussing with our partners what kind of effect the wars have on them and what could be done to really have an off ramp from this war. We need to exit from the war, not escalate this further, because the consequences for everybody around the world are quite severe,’’ Kallas said.
‘’At the same time, we cannot forget about Ukraine. The attacks of Russia on Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure are increasing still every day. And we just cannot overlook this.,’’ she added.
‘’And of course, the oil price hike is giving also Russia a possibility to fund this war again, which is really not good for the Ukrainians. We need to increase our bilateral support, but also the pressure on Russia to stop this war and to really negotiate in good faith,’’ she said.
According to a report in the Financial Times, Russia is close to completing a phased shipment of drones, medicines and food to Iran. The report cites western intelligence assessments and officials. The deliveries, said to have begun in early March, would mark a further step in Moscow’s military and political support for Tehran during the current conflict involving the United States and Israel.
According to the report, senior figures in Moscow and Tehran began secret discussions on drone supplies within days of US and Israeli strikes on Iran. Western officials quoted by the Financial Tilmes said the process is expected to be completed by the end of March.
Earlier this week, an EU official told Reuters that Kallas spoke by phone on with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, an EU official told Reuters.
The EU foreign policy chief also spoke individually by phone with her counterparts from Turkey, Qatar, and South Korea “about the war in the Middle East, attacks on energy infrastructure, and the urgent need to reopen the Strait of Hormuz,” the official said.
“These discussions are part of the EU’s ongoing efforts to find diplomatic solutions,” the official said, adding that “new threats of attacks against critical civilian infrastructure risk affecting millions of people, in the Middle East and beyond.”