Wreckage of a Shahed-136 UAV shot down by the Ukrainians
The White House said Iran has deployed military experts to Russia-occupied Crimea to help launch drone attacks on Ukraine.
A US spokesman said that these Iranians represent a group of trainers and workers in the field of providing technical support.
On Monday, the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, was attacked by the so-called “Kamikaze” drones, which were deployed by Russia, but it is believed that they were Iranian-made.
The United Kingdom announced sanctions against Iranian companies and individuals responsible for supplying drones to Russia.
“It is our assessment that members of the Iranian military were on the ground in Crimea and assisted Russia in these operations,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said during a news conference.
He added that a “fairly small” number of Iranians were providing technical support, and that the Russians were controlling drones in Ukraine.
“Tehran is now directly involved on the ground, by providing weapons with an impact on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine,” Kirby said.
He added that the United States would “seek by all means” to “expose, deter and confront Iran’s supply of these munitions against the Ukrainian people.”
Ukraine identified the drones used on Monday as Iranian Shahed-136 weapons.
These planes are known as “Kamikaze” drones because they were destroyed in the attack, and they were named after Japanese pilots who carried out suicide attacks during World War II.
Russia has recently resorted to using drones and missiles to strike critical infrastructure across Ukraine, destroying about a third of the country’s power stations since Monday last week.
Accordingly, for the first time, restrictions on the use of electricity in Ukraine were imposed on Thursday.
The United Kingdom also announced sanctions against three Iranian generals and an arms company in connection with Russia’s use of Iranian-made drones to launch an attack on Ukraine.
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly accused those on the list of “staging wars” and profiting from Moscow’s “heinous” attacks.
Among those sanctioned are the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, and the Shahid Drone Manufacturing Company.
This comes at a time when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of detonating a major dam in southern Ukraine with explosives.
Zelensky said that if the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant was severely damaged, 80 towns and cities could be flooded, depriving the Zaporizhia nuclear plant of cooling water.
The whole of southern Ukraine, including Crimea, could be deprived of water supplies.
The Institute for the Study of War said that Moscow may be planning an attack on the dam, and will blame it on Ukraine, believing that the resulting floods may give Russian forces cover as they withdraw from areas of Kherson city. The dam is 70 km northeast of Kherson.
Russia is evacuating civilians from areas in Kherson under its control, in anticipation of a Ukrainian attack to seize the city.
