September 15 (EUROPA PRESS) –
In a joint statement on Saturday, the foreign ministers of the G7 member states condemned the export of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia, warning of Tehran’s continued supply of weapons to Moscow “despite repeated international calls for it to stop doing so.”
“We, the G7 Foreign Ministers (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States) and the High Representative of the EU, condemn in the strongest possible terms Iran’s export and Russia’s acquisition of Iranian ballistic missiles,” the statement begins.
The signatories of the note have warned that the Iranian authorities’ defiance in this context “represents a new escalation of Iranian military support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” asserting that “Russia has used Iranian weapons (…) to kill Ukrainian civilians and attack their critical infrastructure.”
The G7 reiterated that “Russia’s aggression constitutes a flagrant violation of international law” and urged Iran to “immediately cease all support for Russia’s illegal and unjustifiable war against Ukraine and to stop such transfers of ballistic missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and related technology, which constitute a direct threat to the Ukrainian people as well as to European and international security in general.”
They also regretted that Iran’s “unacceptable” support for Russia’s “illegal” war in Ukraine “further undermines global security,” and have pledged to “hold Tehran accountable” and to respond “with new and important measures.”
The joint statement comes after the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, expressed on Friday her “deep concern” at the continued transfer of arms and ammunition to Ukraine and Russia, in violation of international law, and called on “all” States to adhere to disarmament treaties.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, more than 11,700 civilians have been killed and more than 24,600 injured in Ukraine, according to data collected by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
August was the month with the second highest number of civilian casualties so far in 2024, with at least 184 civilians killed and 856 injured in Ukraine.
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